By Gul Tuysuz, Mohammed Tawfeeq and Steve Almasy CNN
NEW: 13 foreigners are among the 41 people killed, a Turkish official saysOf the 239 injured, 109 people remain hospitalized Wednesday
Update Notes:
Update 8:45 a.m. – Adds nationalities of 13 foreigners killed; new top 7 grafs
Istanbul terror attack: 41 killed; airport resumes flights amid blood, shattered glass
By Gul Tuysuz, Joshua Berlinger and Holly Yan
CNN
As passengers at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport waited to board their flights Wednesday, workers picked up shattered glass and washed away blood that was barely dry.
Turkey’s Prime Minister declared a national day of mourning, one day after three terrorists attacked the arrivals hall and a nearby parking area with gunfire and explosive devices, killing 41 people. Of the 239 people injured, 109 remained hospitalized Wednesday, official said.
At least 13 of those killed were foreign nationals, a Turkish official said. They include five Saudis, two Iraqis, one Tunisian, one Chinese, one Iranian, one Ukrainian, one Jordanian and one person from Uzbekistan, the official said. Three of the foreigners had dual Turkish citizenship.
Who’s responsible?
There was no immediate claim of responsibility. But several officials said the attacks bear the hallmarks of ISIS.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said information from security forces suggests the terror group may be responsible, but authorities are still investigating.
“The terrorists came to the airport in a taxi and then carried out their attacks,” Yildirim said. “The fact that they were carrying guns added to the toll. Preliminary findings suggest all three attackers first opened fire then detonated themselves.”
The early thinking among U.S. intelligence officials was that ISIS or an ISIS-inspired group was responsible, multiple U.S. officials said. One official said the attack bears the hallmarks of ISIS because of the target and the method, with a senior US official noting the way it was coordinated using weapons and explosions.
‘Bloody boot marks’
Witnesses described the carnage and chaos as the attackers struck one of the world’s busiest airports.
Sue Savage was in the airport to see a friend off when she heard gunshots and then an explosion. More gunshots rang out, followed by another boom, she told CNN’s “Erin Burnett OutFront.”
She and about 30 people were herded into a women’s prayer room until authorities led them out and down an escalator into the main terminal hall.
“There was a lot of blood,” she said.
The floor was marked with bloody boot marks, and as the group was led to the other side of the room, “there was so much glass on the floor, they were scuffing it aside so we didn’t slip.”
Video from inside the terminal shows people fleeing and the bright orange flash of fire from one of the explosions. Victims stagger, and some fall from the slippery, blood-covered floor.
Another video shows a man walking with a gun, which he drops when he’s apparently shot by a security officer. The man slumps to the ground and the officer briefly stands over him before running. About 10 seconds later, a bomb detonates.
The three bombers
Of the three bombers at the airport, two were at the international terminal, and the third terrorist was in the nearby parking lot, a Turkish official told CNN. All three detonated suicide vests.
The assailants have not been identified, but there is a “strong suggestion that they are foreign,” a senior Turkish government source told CNN.
The attacks happened on a warm summer night at the airport, east of Istanbul, which is the 11th busiest in the world in terms of passenger traffic.
Ataturk Airport is “one of the most secure airports in the world,” CNN senior law enforcement analyst Tom Fuentes said. But the airport has been “very overwhelmed for several decades with terrorism from PKK.”
Experts say Turkey is especially vulnerable because of the terrorists operating there.
“You cannot protect these airports 100% … especially in a place like Turkey, where ISIS has cells everywhere,” said retired Lt. Col. Rick Francona, a former U.S. military attaché in Syria.
The timing
As part of the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS, Turkey allows coalition planes to fly raids on ISIS targets in neighboring Iraq and Syria from its territory.
And last year, Turkey resumed hostilities with the PKK, Kurdish militant separatists, after a two-year cease fire broke down.
The PKK has been in an armed struggle with the Turkish government for decades and is considered a terror group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.
But there’s been a shift in strategy recently, according to Francona, the former U.S. military attaché in Syria.
“Over the last couple of months, the Turks have really changed their focus from only the PKK to going after ISIS as well,” he said. “Remember when we first started this exercise, the Turks were giving a lot of lip service to going after ISIS when really they were trying to marginalize and isolate the PKK.”
ISIS also promised an uptick in attacks during the holy month of Ramadan, which is nearing its end.
The previous attacks
Turkey has been rocked by a string of terror attacks over the past year as it weathers bombing campaigns by ISIS and Kurdish militants.
The Tuesday attack in Istanbul is the eighth suicide bombing in Turkey so far this year. To date, at least 140 people have been killed.
The violence has had an impact on Turkey’s tourism industry, a key sector of the national economy.
‘Rain from hell’
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for a unified international fight against terrorism following the attack.
“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.”
If ISIS is responsible for the attack, Soner Cagaptay of the Turkish Research Program at the Washington Institute believes that Turkey “will retaliate with full war.”
“I would expect that Turkey’s vengeance will come down like rain from hell,” he told CNN. “For Turkey now, fighting the so-called Islamic State is going to be priority number one.”
And that involves getting involved in the chaotic, messy conflict that’s ravaged Turkey’s neighbor, Syria, since 2011.
Francona described Syria as “where the nexus of every problem there is in the Middle East comes to roost.”
The Turkish military said its artillery and U.S.-led coalition forces hit 15 ISIS positions in northern Syria Tuesday, according to Anadolu.
It’s not clear if the strikes came before or after the attack.
The-CNN-Wire ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.
Breaking news update, published at 9:42 p.m. ET]
Of the three suicide bombers in the Istanbul airport attack, two of them were at the international terminal, and the third terrorist was in the nearby parking lot, a Turkish official tells CNN. All three detonated suicide vests.
[Original story, published at 9:08 p.m. ET]
Gunshots, screams and explosions pierced the air Tuesday at Istanbul Ataturk Airport, as three terrorists armed with bombs and guns attacked passengers at one of the world’s busiest travel spots.
Witnesses described deadly carnage and crowds in a panic as the attackers struck.
At least 36 people were killed, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said, in the terror attack, one for which there was no immediate claim of responsibility.
Another 147 people were wounded, Turkey’s Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said
Sue Savage was in the airport to see a friend off when she heard gunshots and then an explosion, which she knew was a bomb. Then more gunshots and another boom, she told “Erin Burnett OutFront.”
She ducked into a men’s prayer room and then into a men’s toilet, where she hid in a stall with a young woman. They came out, perhaps 20 or 30 minutes later, and heard more screams and gunshots and ducked into a room where luggage is inspected.
She and about 30 people were herded into a women’s prayer room until authorities led them out and down an escalator into the main terminal hall.
“There was a lot of blood,” she said. The floor was marked with bloody boot marks and she saw a woman’s scarf on the floor. The group was herded around to the other side of the room.
“There was so much glass on the floor they were scuffing it aside so we didn’t slip,” she said.
Video from inside the airport terminal shows people racing away as fast as they could and the bright orange flash of fire from one of the explosions. Victims stagger and some fall from the now blood-covered, slick floor.
Another video shows a man walking with a gun, which he drops when he apparently is shot by a security officer. The man slumps to the ground and the officer briefly stands over him before running. About 10 seconds later, there is an explosion.
Traveler Laurence Cameron described what he saw after he stepped off a plane.
“It was just a massive crowd of screaming people. Some were falling over themselves. A poor chap in a wheelchair was just left, and everyone just rushed to the back of the building, and then people ran the other way and no one really seemed to know what was going on,” he told CNN. “Where you normally hail a taxi, that is where the attack happened. The ground is just kind of shredded. There are bloodstains on the floor as well.”
Istanbul Gov. Vasip Sahin said the three terrorists were also killed.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for a unified international fight against terrorism, saying: “Make no mistake: For terrorist organizations, there is no difference between Istanbul and London, Ankara and Berlin, Izmir and Chicago or Antalya and Rome. 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 attacks happened on a warm summer night at the airport, east of Istanbul, which is the 11th busiest in the world in terms of passenger traffic. CNN’s Ali Veshi said Ataturk is a modern, sophisticated airport.
“There are all of the major European and American boutiques there,” said Velshi, who has traveled through Turkey many times. “… You see people of all shapes and colors, in all sorts of dress. If you want to target the cosmopolitan nature of Istanbul, this is possibly the most cosmopolitan, heavily populated part. You can target tourist areas, but this is the part where the world comes together.”
Flights into the airport were diverted to the capital of Ankara and other cities, airport spokesman Erhan Ustundag said.
“The terrorists came to the airport in a taxi and then carried out their attacks,” Yildirim told a national audience. “The fact that they were carrying guns added to the toll. Preliminary findings suggest all three attackers first opened fire then detonated themselves.”
Yildirim didn’t say why, but said signs pointed to ISIS being behind the attacks, which occurred with a little more than a week left in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Multiple U.S. officials told CNN’s Pamela Brown and Elise Labott that the early thinking among U.S. intelligence officials was that ISIS or an ISIS-inspired group was to blame. Like the Turkish prime minister, the officials said there is much more investigating to be done.
One official said the attack bears the hallmarks of ISIS because of the target and the method. And a senior US official pointed to the way it was coordinated using weapons and explosions.
It would be a “big surprise” if it was the PKK — or Kurdistan Worker’s Party — based on how the attack was conducted. The PKK tends to target military and security installations, other officials said.
Turkey has been rocked by a string of terror attacks over the past year as it weathers bombing campaigns carried out both by ISIS and Kurdish militants.
As part of the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS, Turkey allows coalition planes to fly raids on ISIS targets in neighboring Iraq and Syria from its territory.
And last year Turkey resumed hostilities with the PKK, Kurdish militant separatists, in earnest after a two-year cease fire broke down.
The PKK has been in an armed struggle with the Turkish government for decades and is considered a terror group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.
In March, at least 37 were killed when a car bomb detonated near a bus stop in the Turkish capital, Ankara, in an attack claimed by a Kurdish militant group.
Six days later an ISIS suicide bomber detonated himself on one of Istanbul’s main streets, killing four.
A month earlier, 28 were killed in a blast targeting military vehicles in central Ankara. A Kurdish group claimed responsibility.
And in January, at least 10 German tourists died in a suicide bombing in Istanbul’s Sultanahmet Square that Turkish authorities linked to ISIS.
The violence has had an impact on Turkey’s tourism industry, a key sector of the national economy.
Ataturk Airport is “one of the most secure airports in the world,” CNN senior law enforcement analyst Tom Fuentes says. But the airport has been “very overwhelmed for several decades with terrorism from PKK.”
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, referencing the terror attack, told an audience at the Aspen Ideas Festival on Tuesday, “We are still collecting information and trying to ascertain what happened and who did it.”
The White House issued a statement condemning the terror act.
“Ataturk International Airport, like Brussels Airport which was attacked earlier this year, is a symbol of international connections and the ties that bind us together. Our deepest condolences go out to the families and loved ones of those killed, and we wish a speedy recovery to those injured. We remain steadfast in our support for Turkey, our NATO ally and partner, along with all of our friends and allies around the world, as we continue to confront the threat of terrorism.”
The U.S. Embassy in Ankara sent consular officers to the airport to see whether any of the victims were from the United States. There were no immediate indications of any American casualties, a senior State Department official told CNN.
The-CNN-Wire ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.
