10 dead in Istanbul airport attack

ISTANBUL: At least 10 people were killed on Tuesday evening in a suicide attack at the international terminal of Istanbul’s Ataturk airport, Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said.

Two explosions hit the airport - Turkey’s biggest - followed by gunfire, local television channels reported. “Unfortunately 10 people have been killed according to a preliminary toll,” Bozdag told parliament in Ankara.

More than a dozen ambulances raced to the international terminal of Ataturk airport, CNN-Turk said. The channel cited witnesses as saying two violent blasts shook the terminal, sparking 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. Turkey has been hit by a string of deadly attacks in the past year, blamed on both Kurdish rebels and the Islamic State jihadist group.