New Delhi: Three suspected Islamic State bombers ripped through the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk airport Tuesday, killing at least 36 people and leaving scores injured.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim confirmed the death toll as 36 but Turkish officials say that the number of deceased could climb much higher.
Attackers arrived at the airport in a taxi and blew themselves up after opening fire. A survivor Steven Nabil described the chilling encounter he and his wife had with the attacker at the Ataturk Airport.
Nabil, who was returning from his honeymoon, described the moment on his Twitter account.
“We just left the airport. My wife was injured during the attack. We were face to face with the attacker while he sprayed,” he said in his first tweet just after leaving the airport in Istanbul.
“I ran back got my wife pulled her to store broke in and waited in terror while he was shooting outside the store. We barely made it,” he said in another tweet.
He said, “We were transiting from our honeymoon tonight through Istanbul back to NYC when the bullets were closer I hugged and kissed her.”
He further said, “My wife was sitting at nero cafe while I went (to) 3rd floor to get food from sabbaro. Heard shots, ran fast towards her. People.”
“Came down the stairs to see the court empty and the terrorist firing towards us. Carried her (in) arm and ran around sitting ducks,” he added.
“we then took cover in a closet inside a hair salon. The 45 minutes we were sitting ducks waiting to find out who will open the door,” he said in one of his tweets.
Istanbul's Ataturk airport was the 11th busiest airport in the world last year, with 61.8 million passengers, according to Airports Council International. It is also one of the fastest-growing airports in the world, seeing 9.2 percent more passengers last year than in 2014.
The largest carrier at the airport is Turkish Airlines, which operates a major hub there. Low-cost Turkish carrier Onur Air is the second-largest airline there.
