Istanbul Ataturk Airport Bomb Attack; 36 Persons died and More Than 140 Injured

A triple suicide bombing and gun attack at
Istanbul's

 Ataturk airport has killed at least 36
people, including

foreigners, with Turkey's prime
minister saying early

signs pointed to an assault
by the Islamic State group.

The attackers began spraying bullets at the
international

 terminal entrance before blowing
themselves up at around

 10:00 pm (1900 GMT)
Tuesday, Turkish authorities said.

It is the deadliest of four attacks to rock Turkey's
biggest

 city this year, with two others blamed on
IS and another

 claimed by a militant Kurdish
group. Though there was

 no immediate claim of
responsibility for Tuesday's carnage,

 "the
evidence points to Daesh", Prime Minister Binali
Yildirim

 told journalists at the scene, using
another name for the jihadists.

 He said the dead included foreigners, but gave
no further details.

 Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag
put the number of wounded at 147.

 The attack prompted the suspension of all flights
at the airport – one

 of Europe's busiest hubs. Turkish President Recep

 Tayyip Erdogan called

for an international "joint fight" against terror, as
Western

allies including the United States
condemned the "heinous" attack.

 Yildirim said the suicide bombers had arrived in a
taxi and opened

fire on passengers with
automatic rifles before blowing themselves up.

 Security camera footage widely circulated on
social media appeared

 to capture two of the
blasts. In one clip a huge ball of flame erupts at

an entrance to the terminal building, scattering
terrified passengers.

Another video shows a black-clad attacker
running inside the building

 before collapsing to
the ground -- apparently felled by a police bullet

-- and blowing himself up. Tuesday's attack follows coordinated IS

suicide
bombings at Brussels airport and a city metro
station in

 March that left 32 people dead. An AFP photographer saw bodies

covered with
sheets at the terminal, which bore heavy damage

from the blasts.

 Bullet holes peppered the windows and
shattered glass lay on the

 floor, while
abandoned luggage was scattered everywhere.

 Hundreds of police and firefighters including
forensic officers

 were at the scene. "Somebody came and shot at us and then my
sister

 was running," Otfah Mohamed Abdullah
told AFP. "I don't know

which way she was running and
after that I was falling down.

 I was on the
ground till he finished... I can't find my sister."

There was panic at the nearest hospital in
Istanbul's Bakirkoy district,

 which was inundated
with relatives desperate for news of loved ones.

Brussels airport, itself the scene of suicide
bombings just months ago,

 tweeted
condolences, saying: "Our thoughts are with the
victims

of the attacks at @istanbulairport." Security expert Abdullah Agar told

 BBC Turk the
attack bore the hallmarks of the Islamic State
group.

 "It really bears a resemblance to their methods,"
he said in reference

 to the Brussels bombings,
which were claimed by IS.

 The US and French consulates warned people to
stay away from the area.

 Erdogan met with his

 prime minister and military
chief after news of the carnage broke. "We urge the world,

 especially Western countries,
to take a firm stand against terrorism," Erdogan
said in a statement. "Despite paying a heavy price,

 Turkey has the power, determination and capacity

 to continue the fight against terrorism until the end.

" Istanbul, a major tourism hub that is home to
some 15 million people, has suffered a series of
attacks in recent months, including a bombing in
the heart of the tourist district that killed a dozen
German visitors and was blamed on IS. Two months later,

 three Israelis and an Iranian
were killed in a bombing on the city's main
Istiklal shopping street, also blamed on IS.

 A blast on the tarmac at Istanbul's other
international airport, Sabiha Gokcen, killed a
cleaner in December. Turkey has been hit by 

at least five attacks
blamed on IS jihadists, including a blast in
Ankara in October 2015 that left over 100 dead,
though the group has never formally claimed
responsibility for an attack in Turkey. Ankara

 has meanwhile launched a sustained
offensive against the outlawed rebel Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK) following the collapse of a
ceasefire last year. Hundreds of members of the

 Turkish security
forces have since been killed in PKK attacks.