At least 36 people have been killed and around 140 others wounded as a result of an attack on Istanbul’s Ataturk airport late Tuesday evening, said Turkey’s justice ministry.
The attack was carried out by three gunmen who opened fire on passengers at an entrance of the airport before blowing themselves up, the police said.
Musab Khalid, a Kurdish passenger at Istanbul airport told Rudaw by telephone that the blasts shook the entire airport. Ambulances and taxis rushed scores of wounded people to hospitals.
“There is a lot of noise here,” Khalid said. “People are crying.”
Khalid added that gunmen were involved in a firefight with the police.
“Police and special forces are at the airport,” he said. “The police have pushed us away from the scene.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters that the attack should unite the world around the fight against terrorism.
"The bombs that exploded in Istanbul today could have gone off at any airport in any city around the world," Erdogan said. His government has already blamed the attack on the Islamic State (ISIS).
The number of casualties are expected to rise the police are still believed to be engaged in clashes with the attackers. All flights to and from the airport have been suspended.
A spokesperson for Zagros Jet airline that connects the Kurdistan Region with Turkey told Rudaw that their flight scheduled for 12:40 am to Istanbul from Erbil has already been cancelled from. “Because the safety of our passengers is more important to us, and a return flight from there is cancelled too.”
“What happened now is part of what happened in Paris and Brussels,” Suleiman Ozer of the Istanbul-based Global Strategic Studies told Rudaw. “It is clear that this is done by ISIS but it could become more clear soon as to exactly carried it out.”
“Turkey isn’t immune to such attacks,” he said.
The attack comes a day after Turkey and Russia announced that they have started resuming relationships between both countries several months after they cut ties over the downing of a Russian jet by Turkey over the Syrian border.
“Turkey is doing changes in its foreign policy and therefore should be ready for any consequences,” Ozer said.
