Death toll in suicide bombings at Istanbul airport rises to 28

The death toll in a series of suicide blasts at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport late Tuesday has risen to 28, with at least 60 people injured, some of them critically.

The majority of the fatalities in the attack were Turkish nationals but some foreigners were also among the dead, according to authorities.

Turkish officials say there were three attackers, some armed with AK-47s. There were conflicting reports on whether there were two or three explosions.

“Three suicide bombers carried out an attack. Twenty-eight people have lost their lives. There are also 60 people injured,” Istanbul city governor Vasip Sahin told journalists.

According to Turkish news agency Doğan (DHA) citing police sources, the Islamic State terror group is believed to be behind the assault. No claim of responsibility has yet to be issued.

The three attackers tried to enter the international terminal at the airport, according to authorities, but some were intercepted by security forces. An exchange of fire ensued between the assailants and Turkish forces, after which at least two of them detonated their vests.

According to a witness who spoke to al-Jazeera, a security official managed to wrestle one of the attackers to the ground before his suicide vest was detonated.

Turkish airports have security checks at both at the entrance of terminal buildings and then later before entry to departure gates.

Surveillance footage has surfaced showing one blast from inside the international terminal.

Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag earlier said that according to preliminary information, “a terrorist at the international terminal entrance first opened fire with a Kalashnikov and then blew himself up.”

Another official said attackers detonated explosives at the entrance of the international terminal after police fired at them.

Israeli diplomats who rushed to the hospital to which the victims were taken reported that no Israeli tourists were known to have been hurt in the attack. Earlier, in the immediate aftermath of the explosions, Israel’s Foreign Ministry said all its diplomats who were at the airport at the time of the blast were accounted for and unharmed.

Ministry officials are continuing to search for possible Israeli victims affected by the attack.

All air travel in and out of Ataturk, Turkey’s largest airport, was stopped in the aftermath of the attack. There is no immediate word on when air traffic may resume.

More than a dozen ambulances raced to the international terminal moments after the explosions, CNN-Turk reported.

The channel cited witnesses who said they saw panic among passengers. “It was very strong, everyone panicked and started running in all directions,” one witness told CNN-Turk.

Police set up a perimeter around the site, television images showed.

Footage and reports from the scene showed frightened bystanders and damage to airport facilities.

Turkey has suffered several bombings in recent months linked to Kurdish separatists or Islamic State jihadists. An attack on a pedestrian boardwalk in Istanbul in March left three Israelis dead — Yonathan Suher, 40, Simha Dimri, 60, and Avraham Goldman, 69 — and several more injured.

Authorities blamed that bombing and another that targeted tourists in Istanbul in April on the Islamic State group.

The attacks have increased in scale and frequency, scaring off tourists and hurting the economy, which relies heavily on tourism revenues.