Ankara says Daesh (the self-proclaimed Islamic State) is behind the June 28 gun and bomb attack at Ataturk worldwide airport, which left 45 people dead including 19 foreigners.
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Three bombers opened fire to create panic outside the airport before two of them got inside and blew themselves up.
According to the report, Turkish police found military camouflage outfits and thermal binoculars, in addition to two passports issued under different names in their suitcases.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan prays for the airport employees who were killed in June 28 attack on the airport, during his visit to Ataturk airport in Istanbul, Turkey, July 2.
The pair were nabbed during an ongoing search-and-bust operation, carried out in Istanbul in aftermath of the airport attack that resulted in 44 deaths.
Officials believe the Islamic State group was behind the attack, the worst in a series to hit Turkey’s biggest city this year.
Prosecutors have identified two of the three suspected attackers as Russians Rakim Bulgarov and Vadim Osmanov.
Last Sunday, Turkish counterterrorism forces charged 13 suspects in the attack and identified the three suicide bombers as ISIS-affiliated citizens of three ex-Soviet bloc countries: Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Russian Federation.
Istanbul authorities said on Sunday that 49 people wounded in the attack were still being treated, with 17 in intensive care.
The suspects, 11 of them foreigners, were expected in court after being questioned by the police, state-run Anadolu Agency reported.
One of them, identified as a Russian citizen named as Smail A., said he stayed in a crowded house where he thought he would be able to read the Koran.
In turn, Turkey has blamed ISIS for several major bombings in the past year in Ankara and Istanbul.
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Investigators’ attentions have reportedly focused on whether a Chechen extremist known to be a top lieutenant in the Islamic State group masterminded the attack.
