Mid-East ally Turkey became the world's focus on Tuesday [June 28], as a perceived terrorist attack claimed 36 lives so far, and left an additional 147 injured at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul. While an investigation continues into who the suicide bombers could be, government officials from the NATO member suspect ISIS to have been responsible for the explosions.
Investigators have traced the assailants back to a taxi, from which they arrived and split. All three were said to be suited up in vests and armed with AK-47's. From their point of initiation two of the men headed into the international arrivals hall, where they opened fire as waves of patrons scrambled for safety. Then came a succession of explosions, one of which was detonated by the third gunman in the nearby parking lot. Video surveillance happened to capture part of the carnage, with a recording from one angle filming as people dash from a ball of fire in the background. The footage from another angle actually shows the moments before one of the culprits blows himself up, as he drops his gun and falls to the ground, having been shot by security personnel. The officer who hits him follows up by approaching, but makes a quick reverse and runs for it as he realizes the wounded gunman in the process of ticking the bomb off. Another bright ball of flames shakes the building.
While Turkey has had a long history of domestic terror attacks carried out by the Kurdistan Workers' Party, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan put a call out to the world, with implication that it was the doing of ISIS' international terror network. "Make no mistake: For terrorist organizations, there is no difference between Istanbul and London, Ankara and Berlin, Izmir and Chicago or Antalya and Rome. Unless all governments and the entire mankind join forces in the fight against terrorism, much worse things than what we fear to imagine today will come true," Erdogan said.
Source: en.apa.az
