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36 dead, 147 wounded in suicide bombings on Istanbul airport

Author
Newstalk ZB staff,
Publish Date
Wed, 29 Jun 2016, 7:49AM

36 dead, 147 wounded in suicide bombings on Istanbul airport

Author
Newstalk ZB staff,
Publish Date
Wed, 29 Jun 2016, 7:49AM

UPDATED 5.44PM Police believe Islamic State was behind suicide bomb attacks at Istanbul's international airport that have killed at least 36 people and wounded 147, media report.

LISTEN: CNN journalist Joe Duran talks to Larry Williams from Istanbul 

Dogan News Agency cited police sources as saying: "ISIS is behind the attack" at Ataturk Airport. A Turkish official, however, said it was too early to confirm any links when asked about the Dogan News Agency report.

LISTEN: Leah Farrall: ISIS could be behind Istanbul bombings

There are also now unconfirmed reports that the death toll could be close to 50.

Governor Vasip Sahin has told local broadcaster NTV that three suicide bombers had carried out the attack.

Officials had previously said one or two attackers had blown themselves up at the entrance to the international terminal at the airport after police fired at them. 

Ataturk is Turkey's largest airport and a major transport hub for international travellers. Pictures posted on social media from the site showed wounded people lying on the ground inside and outside one of the terminal buildings.

After the explosions, hundreds of passengers spilled out of the airport with their suitcases in hand or stacked onto trolleys.

Two South African tourists, Paul and Susie Roos from Cape Town, getting to fly home, were shaken by what they witnessed.

"We came up from the arrivals to the departures, up the escalator when we heard these shots going off," Paul Roos said.

"There was this guy going roaming around, he was dressed in black and he had a hand gun."

Eyewitness Lawrence Cameron told CNN it was chaos at the airport.

"there's just massive crowds, screaming people, it's just pure panic - people falling over themselves. There's maybe five or six ambulances everywhere, and blood stained tissues on the floor still."

Authorities have stopped the takeoff of scheduled flights from the airport and passengers have been transferred to hotels, a Turkish Airlines official said.

Turkey has suffered a spate of bombings this year, including two suicide attacks in tourist areas of Istanbul blamed on Islamic State, and two car bombings in the capital, Ankara, which were claimed by a Kurdish militant group.

In the most recent attack, a car bomb ripped through a police bus in central Istanbul during the morning rush hour, killing 11 people and wounding 36 near the main tourist district, a major university and the mayor's office.

Turkey, which is part of the US-led coalition against Islamic State, is also fighting Kurdish militants in its largely Kurdish southeast.

CNN security analyst Peter Bergen said it's not clear who's behind the attack.

"As you know, we're in the holy month of Ramadan - ISIS has called for attacks, but that said, Kurdish separatists have continued to carry out major terrorist attacks in Turkey. Those are the two most likely culprits here."

Reporter Andrew Finkle is in Istanbul and said no one has claimed responsibility yet.

"There have been incidents like this in the past, and ISIS has been responsible for suicide bombings in Turkey in the previous year."

MFAT ADVICE

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said there are currently 182 New Zealanders in Turkey.

There's no indication if any of them were at the Ataturk Airport in Istanbul when the blasts happened.

The Ministry is in contact with Turkish authorities.

It is advising against all tourist and other non-essential travel to Istanbul due to the heightened threat of terrorism.

The Ministry recommends New Zealanders follow any instructions issued by the local authorities, exercise a high degree of vigilance in public places and register their details on www.safetravel.govt.nz

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