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13 suspects in court over Istanbul airport attack

More than 230 people were hurt in the attack.

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The three bombers opened fire to create panic outside, before two of them got inside the terminal building and blew themselves up.

Mehmet Sirin Kaya was killed in the town of Lice in the mainly Kurdish province of Diyarbakir, the official said.

Nine suspected militants, thought to have been in contact with Islamic State members in Syria, were detained in dawn raids in four districts of the Aegean coastal city of Izmir on Thursday, the state-run Anadolu news agency said. He also announced that his government would allow Syrian refugees in Turkey to take on Turkish citizenship.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan proclaimed the terror attack “will not divide or split our country”.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim pinned the airport attack on the Islamic State group, which is battling an array of enemies in Iraq and Syria including Western powers and Russian Federation.

“This is not Islamic. Taking one person’s life means going straight to hell”, he said.

“In this sacred month of seeking forgiveness and garnering unity, this attack again demonstrates how terrorists are far from where the majority of the Muslim world stands and have no regard for our core belief of maintaining peace and not causing unrest in the world”.

Russia’s Interior Ministry said it was trying to obtain more information on Vadinov. “But nothing is for certain”. ISIS claimed responsibility for that massacre, which left 89 people dead.

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 welcoming a friend.

“It really bears a resemblance to their methods”, he said in reference to the Brussels bombings, which were claimed by IS. At least 10 people died in those blasts.

Authorities have said they believe the three attackers were a Russian, an Uzbek and a Kyrgyz national.

Two memorial services for victims were held at the airport, one of them honouring taxi drivers slain in the attack.

“This is bad and gutless act that has caused many fatalities and casualties”.

Turkey has been accused of long turning a blind eye to jihadi fighters who crossed into Syria from Turkish territory in the hope that they would hasten Assad’s downfall.

ISIS has a reason to detest Turkey.

Turkey is part of a US-led military coalition against ISIL and home to around 3 million refugees fleeing the five-year civil war in neighbouring Syria.

Sabah newspaper, which is close to the government, called the attack a “treacherous ambush on peace”, saying it came as Turkey was spearheading peace initiatives that would “change regional balances”.

The attack marked the eighth suicide bombing in Turkey this year. At least 140 people have been killed.

These have taken a heavy hit on tourism, and on Friday Germany warned its citizens to exercise particular caution if they travel to Turkey. About 39.4 million people visit each year.

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All operations at the airport were temporarily suspended after the attack, but had fully resumed by Wednesday morning. “At that time, the bomb went off”, he told The Associated Press.

A child leans on the coffin of his uncle Habibullah Sefer on Thursday. Sefer along with more than 40 other people was killed in a suicide attack on Tuesday at the Ataturk airport in Istanbul