Islamic State blamed for Turkey Airport attacks that killed 36

Coordinated attacks on passengers at Istanbul’s international airport killed at least 36 people on Tuesday as the fallout from Syria’s civil war tore through the terminal at one of the busiest travel times of the year. Islamic State is likely responsible for the killings, PM Binali Yildirim said. Once an affiliate of al-Qaeda, Islamic State carried out beheadings and crucifixions as it took parts of Syria and northern Iraq. While losing ground in recent months, it is striking abroad more frequently and claimed responsibility for similar airport attacks in Brussels in March. “First I heard the gunfire, then the explosions,” Koray Arslan, who was at the nearby domestic terminal, said in a phone interview. “They were very powerful. I could feel the tremors under my feet.” The attacks, which also injured about 150 people, went off in rapid succession at the airport around 10 p.m. Many of Turkey’s children ended school terms this month, which coincides with the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. The “attack shows terrorism is a global threat,” Yildirim said from the Istanbul airport, where he assessed the situation and met with emergency personnel. “Our country has the necessary power and determination to overcome over these heinous attacks.” Istanbul Governor Vasip Sahin said three suicide bombers took part in the attack near security checkpoints at the entrance to the airport’s arrivals hall. Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag told lawmakers in parliament that one attacker had sprayed gunfire from a Kalashnikov rifle at people around him before blowing himself up. None of the attackers got past security controls, according to a Turkish official. He said two of them detonated their vests at the arrival hall, and a third in a nearby parking lot. Turkish Airlines, the national carrier, has suspended all flights until 8 a.m. on Wednesday. The attack is the latest to target airports and the aviation industry in the Middle East and Europe, coming three months after suicide bombers struck Brussels airport. It serves as reminder of the vulnerability of airport lobbies and other public places where large numbers of people congregate, said Hans Weber, an aviation consultant in San Diego.<br/>