At least 41 people have been killed and 230 wounded in coordinated terrorist attacks on Istanbul Ataturk airport. Bombs went off at the entrance to a terminal on Tuesday evening, with gunfire from a Kalashnikov also reported.
"Three suicide bombers carried out an attack," Istanbul governor Vasip Sahin told journalists.
Prime minister Binali Yildrim has said the killings were most likely carried out by the Islamic State group. There has been a sharp rise in attacks in Turkey over the past year, with some of them linked to Kurdish separatists and others to Islamic State. In December an attack on Istanbul's other airport, Sabiha Gokcen, killed one member of airport staff.
Turkey has seen a sharp drop in tourism, one of its main sources of income. Ataturk is the third busiest airport in Europe after London Heathrow and Paris Charles de Gaulle, with over 60 million annual visitors. Thirteen of the confirmed victims were foreign nationals.
SOURCE: commonspace.eu and agencies
PHOTO: Ataturk airport
