Turkish police have rounded up 13 suspects over the triple suicide bombings at Istanbul’s global airport that left 42 people dead, a Turkish official said.
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Days before the Istanbul attack, on June 25, security forces killed two suspected Islamic State militants who were trying to cross the border illegally and ignored orders from security forces to stop, according to local media reports.
ISIS has either claimed or been blamed for at least five major suicide attacks in Turkey in the past year, including the assault at the airport and two bombings in Istanbul earlier this year. Three attackers carried out a gun-and-suicide bomb attack, killing dozens and wounding scores of others.at the busy airport late Tuesday, the latest in a series of bombings to strike Turkey in recent months.
In this framegrab from CCTV video, made available by the Turkish Haberturk newspaper on Thursday, June 30, 2016, a man, circled, believed to be one of the attackers walks in Istanbul’s Ataturk airport, Tuesday June 28, 2016.
The official gave no further details beyond confirming the attackers’ nationalities and declined to be named because details of the investigation have not yet been released.
It seems extraordinary, for example, that for many months, Daesh filled the caliphate ” s coffers with dollars earned from crude exports into Turkey.
Turkish Interior Minister Efkan Ala told parliament 19 foreign nationals were among the victims.
A spokesman for Kyrgyzstan’s state security service said it was investigating, while the Uzbek security service had no immediate comment.
The airport attack marked the eighth suicide bombing in Turkey this year.
The Turkish police detained 22 suspected Islamic State (IS) militants on Thursday in operations in Istanbul and the western city of Izmir. It claimed responsibility for dual suicide bombings at the main airport in Brussels in March.
Many believe that some elements within Turkey’s Islamistleaning government stomached, or even fostered, jihadist groups in Syria that tallied with their beliefs, creating an environment in which IS could grow.
Clean-up crews swept up debris and armed police patrolled as flights resumed.
“It is meaningful that this heinous attack came at a time when we have become successful in the fight against separatist terrorism… and at a time when we started a process of normalizing ties with our neighbors”, Yildirim said.
As Turkey flew flags at half-staff to observe a day of mourning Wednesday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan proclaimed the terror attack “will not divide or split our country”. He was wounded in an exchange of gunfire with one of the attackers and reportedly saved many lives by shouting “Bomb!”
US President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned the attack in separate phone calls with Erdogan, his office said.
The report said the suspects were in contact with IS militants in Syria and were engaged in “activities that were in line with the organization’s aims and interests”, including providing financial sources, recruits and logistical support.
“They have been let loose against us by the forces who hold their leashes”, Erdogan said, warning that “the bombs that explode in our country today will tomorrow explode in the hands of those who sent them”.
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An official said Friday that security forces have killed the mastermind of the February 17 attack. “If you use these kinds of groups they have a tendency to turn back and bite and Turkey is now paying the price for its decisions”.
