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17 more arrested in connection with Istanbul Airport attack

Rubio said it ultimately would impact them more than the US, but he said the uncertainty over the European Union now makes NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) more relevant.

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A senior Turkish official said the three suicide attackers were nationals of Russia, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.

The official on Thursday could not confirm Turkish media reports that the Russian national was from the restive Daghestan region.

Arriving at the airport, without being stopped for a police check, the attackers got out of the taxi in front of the global arrivals terminal.

Turkey believes Islamic State (IS) was behind the suicide gun and bomb attack that left 44 people dead and about 240 injured.

There was no comment from Uzbekistan.

Although there has been no immediate claim of responsibility, Turkish officials said the Istanbul attacks appeared to be the work of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS.

“Ask anybody inside ISIS or who’s fought ISIS”. But after Tuesday night’s attacks on the Ataturk airport in Istanbul, Bayoudh’s son would never see him again.

“All information and evidence” points to ISIS, Ala, the interior minister, said.

Erdogan paid an unannounced visit to the airport on Saturday, saying a prayer in front of a memorial set up for the victims, which features the pictures of airport employees killed in the rampage.

Kyrgyzstan’s Foreign Ministry denied that an attacker came from that country.

An airport guard said another bomber “went through the security barrier shooting at the guards”. “I was about four or five meters (13 to 16 feet) away”.

“The wedding was next week”, sobbed his mother, Cervinye Haznedaroglu, as visitors offered condolences.

Are they too late in taking the ISIS threat seriously?

Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security, along with Turkish and Swedish media, named Akhmed Chatayev as the mastermind of the operation.

Police officers patrol at Ataturk Airport the day aftwer the attack. But authorities did not immediately release their names or other details about their possible movements and planning before the attack, which claimed 44 lives and wounded more than 230 in another potential blow to Turkey’s already flagging tourism industry.

A suspected suicide bomber dressed in black at Ataturk Airport.

The Izmir raids unfolded simultaneously in the neighborhoods of Konak, Bucak, Karabaglar and Bornova neighborhoods, according to Anadolu Agency. Police said they found three hunting rifles and documents related to the extremist group during the searches, according to the agency.

It said they were accused of financing, recruiting and providing logistical support to the group.

One of the suspects, a Syrian national, was thought to have been plotting a suicide bomb attack in either the capital Ankara or the southern province of Adana, home to Incirlik, a major base used by United States and Turkish forces through which some coalition air strikes against ISIS are carried out.

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Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey.

Defne Karadeniz