Terror in istanbul: Passengers embrace each other at the entrance to Istanbul’s Ataturk airport, early Wednesday following their evacuation after a blast. Agencies
Istanbul, June 29: Suicide attackers armed with guns and bombs killed 41 people and wounded scores of others at Istanbul’s busy Ataturk Airport in an attack the government blamed on the Islamic State.
Funerals were expected Wednesday for some of the victims — who included at least 23 Turkish citizens and 13 foreign nationals — as Turkish authorities tried to piece together how the attack happened.
A Turkish official said authorities are going through surveillance footage and interviewing witnesses to establish a preliminary timeline.
The death toll excluded the three bombers, who arrived in a taxi Tuesday night and eventually blew themselves up after coming under fire, according to the government, though there were conflicting reports about exactly where they detonated their explosives.
Earlier, the same official had said none of the attackers got past security checks at the entrance, with two detonating explosives at the international arrivals terminal and the third in the parking lot.
HaberTurk newspaper said one attacker blew himself up outside the terminal, and two others opened fire near the X-ray machines. An attacker was shot at while running, then blew himself up at the exit. The third attacker, who went up one level to the international terminal, was shot by police and detonated his explosives. Agencies