Two Istanbul airport suicide bombers identified
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—Two of the Istanbul airport suicide bombers have been identified by Istanbul police and they are working to identify the third.
The two identified are Rakim Bulgarov and Vadim Osmanov, both holding Russian passports.
Turkish officials have provided little other details about the suicide bombers but many speculative reports have been published in the media.
Turkey’s Hurriyet newspaper said that one of the bombers, a Russian citizen it named as Osman Vadinov, had come to Turkey from the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa in Syria.
Pro-government paper Yenisafak said the organizer of the attack was a Chechen named Akhmed Chatayev who was arrested in Bulgaria five years ago but was freed as he had refugee status in Austria.
In 2012, Chatayev was wounded in a Georgian military operation in the region of Dagestan. His foot was amputated due to his injuries and he was arrested on weapons charges but was released a year later, Georgian officials stated.
Turkish officials have not confirmed that Chatayev was one of the suspected bombers.
Another 11 suspects were arrested early Friday, bringing the total detained on suspicion of involvement in the attack to 24. Fifteen of those arrested are suspected foreign Islamic State militants.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the attackers “belong in hell.” Speaking at an event in Istanbul on Friday, he blamed the Islamic State for the bombing.
“They say they are doing this in the name of Islam. They have nothing to do with Islam. They belong in hell. Whoever kills a soul, it is as if he has killed all of humanity. The victims are sinless, children, women, the elderly,” he said. “They are traveling, unaware of what’s going on, and face death. No one has the right to do that.”
Prime Minister Binali Yildirim expressed his nation’s gratitude for the international support and sympathy showed to Turkey in the wake of the attack.
“I hope that this terror attack becomes a milestone for a common fight against terrorism, without any double standards of ‘your terrorist is bad, my terrorist is good’ rhetoric,” Yildirim told reporters in Ankara. “We have long been saying terrorism is a problem of all humanity, not just Turkey. It is good to see that this has been noticed, even if late.”
Ankara has frequently criticized the US-led international coalition combatting the Islamic State in Syria for working with Kurdish groups in the north of the country, groups Turkey considers terrorist organizations, and has accused the international community of having double standards with respect to terrorism.
At least 44 were killed in the triple suicide bombing on Turkey’s largest airport on Tuesday and hundreds more were wounded.
Nineteen foreigners numbered among the dead, leading many to fear for Turkey’s vital tourism industry.
“Normally at this time of the year, our hotel should be full but we’re only at 30 percent capacity so we’ve had to drop our prices,” Mehmet Genç, a hotel manager told AFP.
“It’s obvious that they specifically targeted an airport so that tourists stop coming to Turkey and the Turkish economy is weakened and businesses suffer. That’s why the airport was targeted. It becomes international news, the whole world is aware and those who were planning to come are scared and stay home.”
One American tourist in the country, speaking to AFP, said she was aware of the attacks and was taking measures to protect her safety like avoiding large crowds. But, said Carrie Ribla, “I feel relatively safe.”
Tourism accounts for approximately 12 percent of Turkey’s GDP but tourists numbers in May 2016 were down 35% from May 2015 according to Woljfango Piccoli, an analyst with Capital Economics. “Turkey is expected to secure revenues from its tourism sector worth around $18 - $20 billion in 2016, a sharp decline in comparison to the $28 - $30 billion it would register in a good year.”
Turkey has suffered at least six major attacks so far this year.
Hurriyet Daily News reported that Turkey has arrested more than 100 suspected Islamic State militants in the last month, citing law enforcement records. Thirty-two are being held in custody pending trial, some have been deported, and others are released on bail pending further investigation or were released with no further action to be taken.
The Turkish military also claims to have killed at least 230 terrorists in northern Syria.
The two identified are Rakim Bulgarov and Vadim Osmanov, both holding Russian passports.
Turkish officials have provided little other details about the suicide bombers but many speculative reports have been published in the media.
Turkey’s Hurriyet newspaper said that one of the bombers, a Russian citizen it named as Osman Vadinov, had come to Turkey from the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa in Syria.
Pro-government paper Yenisafak said the organizer of the attack was a Chechen named Akhmed Chatayev who was arrested in Bulgaria five years ago but was freed as he had refugee status in Austria.
In 2012, Chatayev was wounded in a Georgian military operation in the region of Dagestan. His foot was amputated due to his injuries and he was arrested on weapons charges but was released a year later, Georgian officials stated.
Turkish officials have not confirmed that Chatayev was one of the suspected bombers.
Another 11 suspects were arrested early Friday, bringing the total detained on suspicion of involvement in the attack to 24. Fifteen of those arrested are suspected foreign Islamic State militants.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the attackers “belong in hell.” Speaking at an event in Istanbul on Friday, he blamed the Islamic State for the bombing.
“They say they are doing this in the name of Islam. They have nothing to do with Islam. They belong in hell. Whoever kills a soul, it is as if he has killed all of humanity. The victims are sinless, children, women, the elderly,” he said. “They are traveling, unaware of what’s going on, and face death. No one has the right to do that.”
Prime Minister Binali Yildirim expressed his nation’s gratitude for the international support and sympathy showed to Turkey in the wake of the attack.
“I hope that this terror attack becomes a milestone for a common fight against terrorism, without any double standards of ‘your terrorist is bad, my terrorist is good’ rhetoric,” Yildirim told reporters in Ankara. “We have long been saying terrorism is a problem of all humanity, not just Turkey. It is good to see that this has been noticed, even if late.”
Ankara has frequently criticized the US-led international coalition combatting the Islamic State in Syria for working with Kurdish groups in the north of the country, groups Turkey considers terrorist organizations, and has accused the international community of having double standards with respect to terrorism.
At least 44 were killed in the triple suicide bombing on Turkey’s largest airport on Tuesday and hundreds more were wounded.
Nineteen foreigners numbered among the dead, leading many to fear for Turkey’s vital tourism industry.
“Normally at this time of the year, our hotel should be full but we’re only at 30 percent capacity so we’ve had to drop our prices,” Mehmet Genç, a hotel manager told AFP.
“It’s obvious that they specifically targeted an airport so that tourists stop coming to Turkey and the Turkish economy is weakened and businesses suffer. That’s why the airport was targeted. It becomes international news, the whole world is aware and those who were planning to come are scared and stay home.”
One American tourist in the country, speaking to AFP, said she was aware of the attacks and was taking measures to protect her safety like avoiding large crowds. But, said Carrie Ribla, “I feel relatively safe.”
Tourism accounts for approximately 12 percent of Turkey’s GDP but tourists numbers in May 2016 were down 35% from May 2015 according to Woljfango Piccoli, an analyst with Capital Economics. “Turkey is expected to secure revenues from its tourism sector worth around $18 - $20 billion in 2016, a sharp decline in comparison to the $28 - $30 billion it would register in a good year.”
Turkey has suffered at least six major attacks so far this year.
Hurriyet Daily News reported that Turkey has arrested more than 100 suspected Islamic State militants in the last month, citing law enforcement records. Thirty-two are being held in custody pending trial, some have been deported, and others are released on bail pending further investigation or were released with no further action to be taken.
The Turkish military also claims to have killed at least 230 terrorists in northern Syria.