Istanbul terrorist attacks

On June 28, in Ataturk International Airport in Istanbul, Turkey, three men attacked the international terminal. One opened fire with an assault rifle in the security-check area, then blew himself up. Another attacker made it to the second level before detonating his suicide vest. A third man detonated his vest outside the terminal entrance.

At least 44 people from at least 10 countries were killed, most of them Turkish, and 236 were injured.

As of press time, no group had claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Islamist militant group Daesh (ISIL) is suspected. Flights at the airport, one of the busiest in the world, resumed the next morning.

Weeks earlier, on June 7, a car bomb targeting a police bus in Istanbul killed 11 people, four of them civilians, and injured more than 35 others. The attack occurred near Beyazıt Square, a heavily touristed area. 

On June 10, the Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK), a militant radical offshoot of the political Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), claimed responsibility for the June 7 bombing, saying (translated from Kurdish), “Foreign tourists located in, and who want to come to, Turkey, we also warn again. Foreigners are not our target, but Turkey is no longer a reliable country for them.”

The US Department of State warns that tourists in Turkey have been targeted by international and indigenous terrorist organizations and recommends staying away from large crowds at popular destinations.