Prosecutors have established the identity of two of the three airport attackers giving their names as Rakim Bulgarov and Vadim Osmanov and were trying to identify the third, Anadolu said.
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One attacker detonated his explosives downstairs in the arrivals terminal, Turkish officials said. A further 238 people were wounded. The attackers were spotted soon after they emerged from a taxi outside the airport; at least two were shot by security forces, and only one made it inside the worldwide terminal.
The official said Friday Mehmet Sirin Kaya was killed by security forces in the town of Lice in the mainly Kurdish province of Diyarbakir.
“A medical team is working around the clock to conclude the identification process”, one of the officials said.
The death toll has now risen to 43 – 19 of them foreign nationals or of dual nationality. The Sabah newspaper, which is close to the Turkish government, said police had launched a manhunt for him.
The Feb. 17 suicide attack against military personnel in Ankara killed 29 people and was claimed by an offshoot of the Kurdistan Worker’s Party, or PKK, which Turkey considers a terrorist organization.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan wrote to Russian leader Vladimir Putin this week to express regret over the incident, but officials in Ankara say he stopped short of making the apology Moscow wants before it will lift economic sanctions.
Airport employees mourn for their colleagues, who were killed in Tuesday’s attack at the airport, during a ceremony at the worldwide departure terminal of Ataturk airport in Istanbul, Turkey, June 30, 2016.
Counterterrorism police led by special forces commandos carried out raids Thursday in several low-income neighborhoods of Istanbul, multiple news outlets reported Thursday.
“They returned and came back with long-range rifles they took out from their suitcases, and passed the security control by opening fire randomly at people”, he said.
The Izmir raids unfolded simultaneously in the neighborhoods of Konak, Bucak, Karabaglar and Bornova, according to Anadolu Agency. The self-styled caliphate prizes ambiguity about its operations in Muslim majority Turkey and did not claim responsibility for the assault by multiple gunmen wearing suicide-bomb vests.
Turkish and Swedish media have also identified Chatayev as the organizer, although Turkish authorities have not confirmed his involvement. IS this week boasted to have cells in Turkey, among other countries.
Hundreds of mourners also gathered in Istanbul on Thursday for the funeral of popular 28-year-old teacher Huseyin Tunc, who was at the airport to welcome a friend.
Russian Federation intervened in Syria past year to prop up Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the face of a rebel onslaught.
The country has not only had to grapple with terror attacks, but geopolitical tensions that sparked a sharp drop in the usually numerous Russian visitors.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government protocol.
Turkey adjusted its military rules of engagement this month to allow North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies to carry out more patrol flights along its border with Syria.
It said they were accused of financing, recruiting and providing logistical support to the group.
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According to Reuters, Turkish security services believe that at least one of the suspected Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) suicide bombers may have been a foreigner.
