SUICIDE attackers armed with guns and bombs killed 41 people and wounded scores of others at Istanbul’s busy Ataturk Airport in an attack Tuesday that the Turkish Government blamed on Islamic State extremists.

    Officials said yesterday the number of dead is likely to rise to 50, while Turkey’s prime minister said Islamic State militants appeared to have carried out the attack, which left around 239 people injured.

    U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and Chinese, U.S. and British governments condemned the terrorist attack.

    Witnesses said one attacker opened fire in the departures hall with an automatic rifle, sending passengers diving for cover, before all three blew themselves up in or around the arrivals hall a floor below.

    Dead bodies could be seen scattered in the road just outside the terminal building, while video emerged showing a police officer shooting one of the attackers, then fleeing moments before they detonated their suicide vests.

    Foreign Office officials said they were “urgently seeking further information” after Turkey said the majority of those killed were Turkish, but 12 foreigners were also among the victims — three of whom were dual nationals.

    Five Saudis, two Iraqis, an Iranian, Jordanian, Tunisian, Ukrainian and Uzbekistan citizen were confirmed to be among the dead as the airport reopened yesterday, which was declared a day of national mourning.

    The death toll excluded the three bombers, who arrived in a taxi 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.

    But the HaberTurk newspaper reported that one attacker blew himself up outside the terminal, and two others opened fire near the X-ray machines. The report said an attacker was shot at while running amid fleeing passengers, then blew himself up at the exit. The third attacker went up one level to the international departures terminal, was shot by police and detonated his explosives, according to the report.

    The attack at Istanbul Ataturk — Europe’s third-busiest airport — is one of the deadliest in a series of suicide bombings in Turkey, which has struggled to contain the conflict in neighboring Syria and an insurgency by Kurdish militants.

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

    Scheduled flights from the airport were temporarily stopped in the immediate aftermath of the attack and passengers were taken to hotels, Turkish Airlines said, while some flights to the airport were diverted.

    About 80 Chinese passengers were evacuated from the airport after the attack, according to the Chinese Central Television.

    According to the Dogan news agency, a plane carrying Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama was landing at the airport when the attack happened. He and his entourage were taken to an official residence.

    (SD-Agencies)

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