Istanbul has fully reopened Ataturk International Airport Wednesday, after a suicide attack killed 36 people and injured at least 147 Tuesday evening.
“Our airport has been opened to flights and departures from 2:20 (local time) on,” Turkey’s Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said in a statement at the airport Wednesday.
Turkish Airlines says it has resumed all flight operations, and Washington lifted a stoppage of flights between the U.S. and Istanbul’s Ataturk airport late Tuesday.
Iran, however, suspended all flights to Istanbul Wednesday.
Television footage Tuesday showed scenes of bedlam at Ataturk -- Turkey's largest airport and one of the busiest in the world.
VOA's Dorian Jones in Istanbul says one of the bombers detonated his explosives outside the international arrival terminal. That area is usually packed with people waiting for transportation. The two other attackers are believed to have tried to enter the terminal, which is protected by heavily armed police and X-ray machines.
One witness described the scene to VOA's Turkish service. "There were two small explosions and then a large one. People scattered everywhere. They didn't know where to go. We were waiting for my sister, but couldn't find her. We're [still] waiting."
A second witness also sought to give words to the chaos. "In one direction there were shots, in another direction there were bombs, and people ran out as fast as they could and there were people bleeding on the sidewalk."
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama was on a plane that landed at the Ataturk airport just minutes after the attacks. He has since expressed his condolences to the victims, saying he felt “deep pity for the lost innocent lives in that barbarous act of those who have neither God or hope nor a place among the people” on his official twitter account.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Prime Minister Yildirim said early evidence points to an attack by Islamic State extremists, whom he identified by the Arabic pejorative "Daesh." He called the attack "cowardly," and vowed his country will continue to press its fight against extremism.
"Unity will be the best answer to terrorists," he said.
Islamic State has been blamed for two suicide bombings earlier this year in Istanbul targeting foreign tourists.
The Kurdish rebel group PKK also has carried out suicide bombings, but usually targets security forces, as it did this month in an attack on a police bus that killed 11 people.
In the last year, both Ankara and Istanbul have seen scores killed in bombings carried out by both Islamic State and Kurdish rebels.
VOA's Turkish Service also contributed to this report.
Bodies are seen outside Turkey's largest airport, Istanbul Ataturk, Turkey, following a blast, June 28, 2016.
Turkish police block the entrance to Istanbul's Ataturk airport early Wednesday, June 29, 2016.
Turkish forensic police officers work at the scene of a blast outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport, June 28, 2016.
Following an evacuation, passengers walk away from Istanbul's Ataturk airport, June 28, 2016.
Forensic experts work outside Turkey's largest airport, Istanbul Ataturk, following a blast in Turkey, June 28, 2016.
Turkish rescue services help a wounded person outside Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, June 28, 2016. Two explosions have rocked Istanbul's Ataturk airport, killing at least 28 people and wounding dozens of others, Turkey's justice minister and another offici
Paramedics push a stretcher at Turkey's largest airport, Istanbul Ataturk, following a blast in Turkey, June 28, 2016.
Explosion at Istanbul Ataturk Airport
Explosion at Istanbul Ataturk Airport
Explosion at Istanbul Ataturk Airport
Turkey Airport Blast
Explosion at Istanbul Ataturk Airport
Turkey's Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, center, speaks to reporters next to Interior Miinister Efkan Ala, left, at the Ataturk airport in Istanbul, Turkey, following a multiple suicide bombing, June 29, 2016.
People gather at the entrance to Istanbul's Ataturk airport in the early-morning hours of June 29, 2016, after suicide bombers struck in the terminal, killing dozens of people and wounding many others.
Following their evacuation after a series of explosions, a flight's passengers leave on a bus from Istanbul's Ataturk airport in the early-morning hours of June 29, 2016.
Members of a flight crew leave Istanbul's Ataturk airport in the early-morning hours of June 29, 2016. Blasts set off by suicide bombers hit the terminal, killing dozens of people and wounding many others, Turkish officials said.
Passengers embrace each other early in the morning as they wait outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport following their evacuation in the wake of a number of explosions, June 29, 2016.
via Voice of America http://ift.tt/29bs81j
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