Istanbul Update: 41 Dead, 239 Injured

Istanbul Update: 41 Dead, 239 Injured

The terrorist attack at Istanbul’s Atatürk Airport left 41 dead, including 10 foreign nationals, and 239 injured.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım has said that the evidence they have points to the Islamic State as the culprits.

Three attackers opened fire before blowing themselves up at the international terminal, domestic terminal, and parking lot.

One video showed a police officer shooting one attacker, who then detonated himself.

VIDEO: Police shoot suicide bombers right before he blows himself up in Ataturk airport #Istanbul – @agirecudi https://t.co/D7xrLt3ryD

— Conflict News (@Conflicts) June 28, 2016

Taxis that waited for passengers to take home or to their destination instead transported the injured to hospitals so they wouldn’t have to wait for ambulances.

The Saudi Arabian ministry said the attack killed “six Saudis and wounded 27 more.” Other victims “included two Iraqis, one Tunisian, one Chinese, one Iranian, one Ukrainian, one Jordanian and one person from Uzbekistan.” Three of them “had dual Turkish citizenship,” but the Turkish government did not elaborate on which victims.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan released this statement:

“Make no mistake: For terrorist organizations, there is no difference between Istanbul and London, Ankara and Berlin, Izmir and Chicago or Antalya and Rome,” he said. “Unless all governments and the entire mankind join forces in the fight against terrorism, much worse things than what we fear to imagine today will come true.”

The airport reopened on Wednesday. Atatürk Airport is Europe’s third largest airport and a major hub for international travel. Witnesses described arriving to the airport this morning:

Despite the horror and carnage, “everything’s quite calm right now, which is a little surreal as opposed to the scenes we saw here last night,” witness Laurence Cameron said Wednesday.

“I was in the airport this morning looking for my lost luggage,” he said. “They were sweeping up debris, and someone had hung up a big Turkish flag, pretty much right at the spot where (a) bomb had gone off — sort of an act of defiance, which was quite moving.”

NPR’s Leila Fadel also traveled to Istanbul: early this morning:

“It’s a bit of a strange sensation, to watch people rolling their bags around, shopping at the duty-free, and also seeing the remnants of damage and a very recent wound here,” she said on Morning Edition. “Definitely a sign that the Turkish government wants to pick up and keep going and tell people to continue to come here.”

Turkey has experienced numerous terrorist attacks in the last year. In March, an attack from a Kurdish militant group killed 37 people at a bus stop in Ankara.

No terrorist groups have taken responsibility for the attack yet. However, just yesterday, Turkey and Israel healed old wounds and renewed their relationship. The deal means the Turkish government will not enable Hamas to conduct, plan or direct any military activity against Israel. A Hamas official claimed that Erdoğan contacted the terrorist group and said he needed to make the deal “in order to save Turkey’s interests.”

Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.