Three foreign nationals are among the suspects arrested in Istanbul on Thursday, the semi-official Anadolu news agency reported. Two explosions have rocked Istanbul’s Ataturk airport, killing several people and wounding others, Turkey’s justice minister and another official said Tuesday.
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Turkish media reported that Turkey’s intelligence units sent a warning letter to related state institutions about potential attacks by the Islamic State (IS) militants almost 20 days ago.
The three attackers who struck Istanbul’s global airport Tuesday were from Russia, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, the Turkish prime minister’s office confirmed to ABC News. DNA testing of the bombers will hopefully confirm Vadinov’s and the other bombers’ identities.
In October, Russian President Vladimir Putin said between 5,000 to 7,000 fighters from Russia and the former Soviet republics are in Syria.
Despite Obama’s remarks, the USA military initially stopped short of blaming the Istanbul attacks on ISIS.
Turkish officials are yet to publicly identified the attackers. More than 230 people were hurt in the attack.
Counterterrorism police carried out an early morning operation in the city’s Başakşehir district against an Islamic State cell linked with the attack, according to the report.
Some CCTV footage has caught one of the attackers at Istanbul Ataturk Airport smashing his rifle on the floor in frustration over being unable to find new victims.
Days after the Istanbul airport massacre, reports emerged about the identities of the suicide bombers as well as the organizer – a man who a USA official says is a top soldier in the ISIS war ministry.
As Turkey pressed ahead with an investigation into the triple suicide bombing at Istanbul’s busiest airport bombing and track down suspects, its security forces killed the mastermind of an earlier suicide bombing, an official said Friday.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility by the militant group.
The tactic used in the airport attack – shooting, and then detonating explosives – is called “inghimasi”, and it’s being used more frequently by terrorists. President Tayyip Erdogan said the attack should serve as a turning point in the global fight against terrorism, which he said had “no regard for faith or values”.
One passenger, Cihan Tunctas, said he had just got off a flight from Azerbaijan when he heard the sound of gunfire. He denied this and said that he had been sent to the gorge as a negotiator at the request of Georgian officials.
As Turkey flew flags at half-staff to observe a day of mourning Wednesday, questions remained on who was behind the attack.
Turkey’s main opposition leader, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, angered by the ruling AK Party’s refusal to hold an inquiry into the airport attack, accused the AKP of “an ideological kinship” with Islamic State.
Citizens from China, Jordan, Tunisia, Uzbekistan, Iran and Ukraine were also among the 13 foreigners killed.
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The officer is believed to have approached the bomber because he was suspicious about him wearing a raincoat in summer.
