Final Update, 10:45 p.m.: CCTV footage appears to show one of the attackers detonate a bomb strapped to his body after being shot by security forces in the airport. The footage is graphic, but can be watched here. It’s now Wednesday morning in Istanbul and the airport is still open to air traffic, according to Turkish officials. There has still been no claim of responsibility. There will surely be new information as authorities piece together evidence, but we’ll pick it up in the morning with updates.
Update, 8:25 p.m.: Turkish authorities say they believe the terrorist threat is over, meaning, presumably, all suspects in the plot were killed during the attack.
Update, 8:15 p.m.: The Turkish Prime Minister has raised the death toll to at least 36 confirmed dead; 140 reported wounded.
Update, 8:05 p.m.: “[A] Turkish government official said that shortly before 10 p.m., the police fired shots at two suspected attackers at the entryway to the airport’s international arrivals terminal, in an effort to stop them before they reached the building’s security checkpoint,” the New York Times reports. “The two suspects then detonated their bombs, the official said. The third attacker detonated explosives in the parking lot, another official said.”
Update, 7:55 p.m.: Here is some footage from on the ground over the last several hours.
Update, 7:25 p.m.: There’s some discrepancy on the death toll; the AP is now reporting 31 people are confirmed dead. That number appears to be continuing to rise, however, and unfortunately still could meet the earlier estimate by a Turkish official, reported by the AP. CNN is reporting 88 have been wounded in the attack.
Update, 6:25 p.m.: The death toll from Tuesday’s bombing now stands at nearly 50 people, according to Turkish officials. Details of the attack are still sketchy, but the governor of Istanbul told Turkish news outlets three suicide bombers carried out the attack. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, nor have authorities assigned blame, but the Associated Press reports that Turkish officials say there are indications that ISIS is behind the bombing.
Original Post: Turkish officials say at least 10 people have been killed and more than 20 injured in what appears to be a terror attack on Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport. Initial accounts say that two explosions took place in the airport’s international terminal; a CNN source says the explosions were triggered by suicide bombers. Images from the scene showed damage to some outdoor areas, suggesting that the attack, like the Brussels airport bombings in March, may have taken place near the terminal’s entrance and outside its security checkpoints.
Turkey has been hit by several major terrorist attacks recently; as Slate’s Joshua Keating wrote after a February bombing in Ankara, more than one radical group has targeted Turkish civilians, including ISIS, Kurdish nationalists, and “ultra-leftist groups.” (Another deadly bombing took place in Istanbul a month later.)
