At least 28 people have been killed with 20 people wounded in a double suicide bombing at Istanbuls Ataturk airport, say Turkish officials. On Tuesday 28 June two distinctive explosions were heard at the capitals main international airport followed by heavy gunfire with some officials saying there could have been three suicide bombers.
The Associated Press say the death toll is almost double the above number, 50, with 30 ambulances and taxis ferrying the injured to nearby hospitals.
The Turkish Justice Minister Bekir BozdaÄŸ said that two terrorists exploded their suicide vests in a waiting area before going through metal detectors. He added that another attacker fired with a Kalashnikov rifle.
Police inside the building reportedly fired shots to try to stop the attackers just as they reached a security checkpoint at the arrivals hall but they blew themselves up when they came under fire.
One brave officer was even seen attempting to wrestle one of the suicide bombers who detonated his device just seconds later, said NBC reporter Richard Engel.
Another Turkish official estimated that there were three attackers. The assessments show that three suicide bombers carried out the attacks in three different spots at the airport, Istanbul Governor Vasi p Åžahin said according to the Independent.
Harrowing video footage shows people frantically running for cover inside the terminal and fleeing the building fearing for their lives. The explosions were heard at just after 10pm local time (8pm GMT). Flights have been cancelled to and from the third busiest European airport after London Heathrow and Pariss Charles De Gaulle.
No terror group has claimed responsibility for the terror attack but Turkish news agency Dogan say that police believe that the Islamic State (Isis) group is responsible. Adding credence to that claim the 28 June marks exactly two years since the declaration of their self-declared caliphate in Syria and Iraq.
In December an explosion on the tarmac at Sabiha Gokcen airport in Istanbul killed a cleaner. This is the 11th terrorist attack inside Turkey this year and the second in Istanbul.
The Turks are battling both the Islamic State (Isis) and the PKK, or Kurdistan Workers Party, has been in an armed struggle with the Turkish government for decades. The PKK are considered a terror group by Turkey, the US and the EU.
In March this year, at least 37 were killed when a car bomb was detonated in the Turkish capital, Ankara. This assault was claimed by a Kurdish militant group.
Just six days later a Daesh (Isis) suicide bomber detonated himself on one of Istanbuls main shopping streets, killing four. In January, also this year, at least 10 German tourists died in a suicide bombing in Istanbuls Sultanahmet Square that Turkish authorities linked to IS, say CNN.
