Roj Bash Kurdistan

At least 28 people have been killed and around 40 others wounded as a result of two blasts that rocked Istanbul’s Ataturk airport late Tuesday evening, said Turkey’s justice ministry.

Musab Khalid, a Kurdish passenger at Istanbul airport told Rudaw by telephone that the blasts shook the entire airport.

“There is a lot of noise here,” Khalid said. “People are crying.”

Khalid added that gunmen were involved in a firefight with the police.

“Police and special forces are at the airport,” he said. “The police have pushed us away from the scene.”

Suicide bombers and gunmen are believed to have attacked the airport with grenades and assault rifles.

The wounded have been taken to hospitals across Istanbul city by ambulances that rushed to the scene.

The number of casualties are expected to rise the police are still believed to be engaged in clashes with the attackers.

A spokesperson for Zagros Jet airline that connects the Kurdistan Region with Turkey told Rudaw that their flight scheduled for 12:40 am to Istanbul from Erbil has already been cancelled from. “Because the safety of our passengers is more important to us, and a return flight from there is cancelled too.”

“What happened now is part of what happened in Paris and Brussels,” Suleiman Ozer of the Istanbul-based Global Strategic Studies told Rudaw. “It is clear that this is done by ISIS but it could become more clear soon as to exactly carried it out.”

“Turkey isn’t immune to such attacks,” he said.

The attack comes a day after Turkey and Russia announced that they have started resuming relationships between both countries several months after they cut ties over the downing of a Russian jet by Turkey over the Syrian border.

“Turkey is doing changes in its foreign policy and therefore should be ready for any consequences,” Ozer said.

http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/turkey/280620161

Very little information know

Turkey’s Justice Minister: One terrorist shot people with AK47 and later detonated himself

#Turkey whistle blower @fuatavni_f claims govt Intel & paramilitary groups are implicated in deadly attack in #Istanbul airport. BIG IF TRUE

Ataturk attacker was shouting Allah o Akbar

Could be as many as 60 injured

As Turkey have put a media blackout on it's media reports may not have many actual facts

Widespread reports of temporary blockade on Twitter and Facebook in Turkey following terror attacks.

Suicide bombs kill 31 wound close to 150 at Istanbul airport
Nobody is sure of actual figures as yet

Three suicide bombers opened fire before blowing themselves up in the main international airport in Istanbul on Tuesday, killing about 31 people and wounding close to 150, officials said.

Police fired shots to try to stop two of the attackers just before they reached a security checkpoint at the arrivals hall at Ataturk airport, Europe's third-busiest, but they detonated their explosives, one of the officials said.

Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said 31 people were killed and 147 wounded, according to Turkish broadcasters. Istanbul Governor Vasip Sahin said authorities believed there were three suicide bombers, an account corroborated by witnesses.

A Turkish official said the vast majority of those killed were Turkish nationals but foreigners were also among the dead.

"There was a huge explosion, extremely loud. The roof came down. Inside the airport it is terrible, you can't recognize it, the damage is big," said Ali Tekin, who was at the arrivals hall waiting for a guest when the attack took place.

A woman named Duygu, who was at passport control having just arrived from Germany, said she threw herself onto the floor with the sound of the explosion. Several witnesses also reported hearing gunfire shortly before the attacks.

"Everyone started running away. Everywhere was covered with blood and body parts. I saw bullet holes on the doors," she said outside the airport.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest in a string of suicide bombings in Turkey this year, but the Dogan news agency said initial indications suggested Islamic State may have been responsible, citing police sources.

A Turkish official said it was too soon to assign blame.

The attack bore some similarities to a suicide bombing by Islamic State militants at Brussels airport in March which killed 16 people. A coordinated attack also targeted a rush-hour metro train, killing a further 16 people in the Belgian capital.

Paul Roos, 77, described seeing one of the attackers "randomly shooting" on the departures floor of the terminal.

"He was just firing at anyone coming in front of him. He was wearing all black. His face was not masked. I was 50 meters (55 yards) away from him," said Roos, a South African on his way back to Cape Town with his wife after a holiday in southern Turkey.

"We ducked behind a counter but I stood up and watched him. Two explosions went off shortly after one another. By that time he had stopped shooting," Roos told Reuters.

"He turned around and started coming toward us. He was holding his gun inside his jacket. He looked around anxiously to see if anyone was going to stop him and then went down the escalator ... We heard some more gunfire and then another explosion, and then it was over."

"COULD HAVE BEEN ANYWHERE"

President Tayyip Erdogan said the attack should serve as a turning point in the global fight against militant groups.

"The attack, which took place during the holy month of Ramadan, shows that terrorism strikes with no regard for faith and values," he said in a statement.

"The bombs that exploded in Istanbul today could have gone off at any airport in any city around the world," he said, urging all governments to join forces against terrorism.

Speaking in parliament earlier, Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said initial reports suggested one attacker had initially opened fire with a Kalashnikov then detonated explosives.

Ataturk is Turkey's largest airport and a major transport hub for international travelers. Pictures posted on social media from the site showed wounded people lying on the ground inside and outside one of the terminal buildings.

A helicopter buzzed overhead as police evacuated the building. Dozens of passengers walked back down access roads with their luggage, trying to hail cabs. The U.S. embassy urged U.S citizens to avoid the area.

FLIGHTS HALTED

Authorities halted the takeoff of scheduled flights from the airport and passengers were transferred to hotels, a Turkish Airlines official said. Earlier an airport official said some flights to the airport had been diverted.

The airport will be closed for up to 48 hours, Turkey told one foreign government.

In the United States, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey reacted to the explosions by putting armed, high-visibility patrols at the three main airports in the New York metropolitan region.

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/murdering Kurdish civilians/militants in its largely Kurdish southeast.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-turke ... SKCN0ZE2J1

41 killed 236 injured in twin blasts
More expect to die from their injuries

The entire world now knows exactly what happened in Istanbul

What we do not know is WHO did it???

I expect we are still waiting for Turkey to plant evidence of the bombers

It would have been difficult for Turkey to plant evidence on the bombers at first because there were so many people watching and so much CCTV

Perhaps Erdogan has not decided who to blame yet

He probably realises that he made a mistake bombing ISIS in Syria after supporting them for years

Perhaps he thinks that if he blames Kurds it will give him international support for his Kurdish genocide