Posted on 06/28/16
| News Source: VIN
Istanbul - Two Suicide Bombers blew themselves up at Istanbul’s main international airport after police fired at them on Tuesday, killing at least 10 people and wounding several others, a Turkish official said, in what appeared to be the latest in a string of attacks in Turkey’s biggest city this year.
Turkish media quoted Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag as saying 10 people were killed in the attack on Tuesday.
Turkey’s state-run news agency quoted Bekir Bozdag as saying: “According to the information I was given, a terrorist at the international terminal entrance first opened fire with a Kalashnikov and then blew himself up. We have around 10 martyrs (dead) and around 20 wounded.”
The official said the attackers detonated the explosives at the entrance of the international terminal before entering the x-ray security check.
Turkish airports have security checks at both at the entrance of terminal buildings and then later before entry to departure gates.
The blasts hit Istanbul Ataturk, Turkey’s largest airport and a major transport hub for international travelers. Witnesses also reported hearing gunshots.
Pictures posted on social media from the site showed wounded people lying on the ground inside and outside one of the terminal buildings.
Broadcaster CNN Turk said Turkish officials suspected that suicide bombers were behind the attack but there was no official confirmation of this.
Footage from broadcasters, including CNN Turk, showed ambulances rushing to the scene. One witness told CNN Turk that gunfire was heard from the car park at the airport. Taxis were ferrying wounded people from the airport, the witness said.
Turkey has suffered a spate of bombings this year, including two suicide attacks in tourist areas of Istanbul blamed on Islamic State, and two car bombings in the capital, Ankara, which were claimed by a Kurdish militant group.
In the most recent attack, a car bomb ripped through a police bus in central Istanbul during the morning rush hour, killing 11 people and wounding 36 near the main tourist district, a major university and the mayor’s office.
Turkey, which is part of the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State, is also fighting Kurdish militants in its largely Kurdish southeast.