Arabian Stallion
FULL MEMBER
- Joined
- Jun 3, 2016
- Messages
- 269
- Reaction score
- 6
- Country
- Location
Istanbul airport attack killed 2, injured 25 Saudi Arabians: envoy
Vehicles are seen behind a broken window at Turkey’s largest airport, Istanbul Ataturk, Turkey, following yesterday's blasts June 29, 2016. (Reuters)
Vehicles are seen behind a broken window at Turkey’s largest airport, Istanbul Ataturk, Turkey, following yesterday's blasts June 29, 2016. (Reuters)
By Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Wednesday, 29 June 2016
Saudi’s ambassador to Turkey, Adel Mirdad, told Al Arabiya News Channel on Wednesday that the suicide bombing in Istanbul’s Ataturk International Airport has killed two Saudis and injured 25 others from the kingdom, with one citizen so far considered “missing.”
Three suicide bombers opened fire at passengers with automatic rifles before blowing themselves up at Turkey’s biggest airport on Tuesday night, killing at least 41 people and wounding 239.
Mirdad initially said six Saudis including four women were killed in the attack, but later he reduced the number to only two Saudis killed after Turkish authorities corrected the death toll.
He also said “there was no evidence,” relating to the reported deaths of five other Saudis, so they were listed as “missing” for the time being. But later, he said four were found with one person still missing.
The ambassador wished “swift recovery” for the injured, saying Saudi Arabia vehemently denounces the targeting of “innocent lives.”
A Turkish official on Wednesday said an Iranian and a Ukrainian have been confirmed as the first foreign victims in the Istanbul airport suicide attack.
Last Update: Wednesday, 29 June 2016 KSA 20:29 - GMT 17:29
Istanbul bombers were ‘Russian, Uzbek and Kyrgyz’
Pictured moments before the attack: The three bombers walk through Ataturk International Airport. (CCTV footage)
Pictured moments before the attack: The three bombers walk through Ataturk International Airport. (CCTV footage)
Staff writer, Al Arabiya NewsThursday, 30 June 2016
Three suspected ISIS suicide bombers who killed 43 people in a gun and bomb attack at Istanbul airport this week were from Russia, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, a Turkish government official said on Thursday.
The attack on Europe’s third-busiest airport was the deadliest in a series of suicide bombings in Turkey this year.
The three bombers opened fire to create panic outside, before two of them got inside the terminal building and blew themselves up. The third detonated his explosives at the entrance. A further 239 people were wounded.
The official gave no further details beyond confirming the attackers’ nationalities and declined to be named because details of the investigation have not yet been released. Investigators had been struggling to identify the bombers from their limited remains, officials said earlier.
“A medical team is working around the clock to conclude the identification process,” one of the officials said.
The pro-government Yeni Safak newspaper said the Russian bomber was from Dagestan, which borders Chechnya, where Moscow has led two wars against separatists and religious militants since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.
The Kyrgyz security service declined to comment, while the Uzbek security service could not immediately be reached.
Turkish police detained 13 people, three of them foreigners, in raids across Istanbul in connection with Tuesday night’s attack.
Counter-terrorism teams led by police special forces launched simultaneous raids at 16 locations in the city, two officials told Reuters. Turkish authorities have said they believe ISIS was behind the airport attack.
Yeni Safak said the organiser of the attack was suspected to be a man called Akhmed Chatayev, of Chechen origin. Chatayev is identified on a United Nations sanctions list as a leader in ISIS responsible for training Russian-speaking militants, and as wanted by Russian authorities.
The Hurriyet newspaper named one of the attackers as Osman Vadinov, also Chechen, and said he had come from Raqqa, the heart of ISIS-controlled territory in Syria.
Turkish officials did not confirm to Reuters that either Chatayev or Vadinov were part of the investigation.
Nine suspected militants, thought to have been in contact with ISIS members in Syria, were meanwhile detained in the dawn raids in four districts of Izmir, the news agency said. It said they were accused of financing, recruiting and providing logistical support to the extremist group.
Turkey is part of a US-led military coalition against ISIS and home to around 3 million refugees from the five-year civil war in neighboring Syria.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/Ne...d-suspected-ISIS-cells-in-Istanbul-Izmir.html
Arab News | Published — Wednesday 29 June 2016
Turkish rescue services carry a victim from the scene of a blast outside Istanbul's Ataturk airport early Wednesday. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
JEDDAH: Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and world leaders on Wednesday expressed solidarity with Turkey as they denounced the terrorist attacks on Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport that killed at least 41 people.
King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Naif, deputy premier and minister of interior, expressed grief in separate cable of condolences to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“As we strongly condemn these criminal act, we, on behalf of the government and people of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, condole with your excellency, the families of the victims and our Turkish brothers, praying to Allah Almighty for bestowing His mercy upon the victims and for a speedy recovery for the injured people, and to spare you, your country and your brotherly people all evils,” the king said in his message carried on the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said the Daesh group was behind the attack. He said three suicide bombers attacked the airport with automatic weapons fire before blowing themselves up.
The Istanbul Governor's Office said Tuesday's attack left 239 people wounded but 109 have been discharged
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for the perpetrators to be identified and brought to justice.
UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said the secretary-general “stands firmly by Turkey as it confronts this threat and stresses the need to intensify regional and international efforts to combat terrorism and violent extremism.”
Mogens Lykketoft, president of the 193-member UN General Assembly, expressed anger and grief at the attack.
“Once again we experience the senseless killing of innocent and peaceful civilians,” he said. “The international community must — through much closer cooperation — redouble efforts to contain and fight radical and violent extremism.”
Iyad Madani, the secretary general of the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) of which Turkey is a member, stressed his "absolute rejection" of this terrorist attack carried out during Ramadan, a spiritual month during which Muslims fast daily from dusk to dawn.
Russian President Vladimir Putin also offered his condolences to Turkey in a telephone call with Erdogan, their first conversation in seven months after Russia froze its ties with Turkey in response to Turkey shooting down its military jet.
Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday that the attacks at the Ataturk airport are “just another reminder of the importance of joint efforts to fight our common threat — terrorism.”
Pope Francis denounced the “brutal terrorist attack” and is calling for the killers behind it to change their ways. “May the Lord convert the hearts of the violent ones and support our efforts toward the path of peace,” he said.
NATO’s chief strongly condemned the “horrific attacks” and said Turkey’s 27 allies in the US-led political and military organization stand with it.
“There can be no justification for terrorism,” said Jens Stoltenberg, NATO’s secretary-general, said in a statement. “NATO Allies stand in solidarity with Turkey, united in our determination to fight terrorism in all its forms.”
Joint action needed
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said in a statement that “the people of Afghanistan feel the pain and suffering of the people of Turkey more than others, as we have been the victim of terrorism for years.”
Ghani added that he considers terrorism a great threat for the security of the region and the world, and reiterated that joint action by all countries is needed.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said Pakistan reiterated its condemnation of terrorism “in all forms and manifestations.”
“We offer our heartfelt sympathies and condolences to the bereaved families and to the brotherly people and government of Turkey,” a ministry statement released to media said.
Denmark’s Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen is “crying with the Turkish people who once again are witnesses to a cowardly terrorist attack.”
Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg tweeted that her “thoughts are with those who lost their lives, the wounded and their loved ones.”
Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics conveyed “his deepest sympathies” while Finland Prime Minister Juha Sipila sent his condolences to his Turkish counterpart, Binali Yildirim.
Greece’s Foreign Ministry expressed “rage and revulsion” and France’s foreign minister blasted the attacks as “odious and cowardly.”
Offering condolences, Jean-Marc Ayrault assured that France “is at Turkey’s side in the fight against terrorism.”
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, whose plane landed in Istanbul minutes after the attacks on Istanbul’s airport, said in a message on Twitter that he felt “deep pity for the lost innocent lives in that barbarous act of those who have neither God or hope nor a place among the people.”
Rama, Finance Minister Arben Ahmetaj and a delegation on Wednesday are on an official visit to Turkey. Rama said all of the planned meetings would go ahead.
Germany’s top security official lamented that “terrorism has once again shown its ugly face and innocent people have lost their lives.”
Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said his thoughts were with the victims and their families, and vowed that “we will continue our fight against terrorism together with our allies with full force.”
http://www.arabnews.com/node/946651/saudi-arabia
Al Arabiya visits the family of a Saudi man killed in Istanbul attack
Thursday, 30 June 2016
Taher Al-Maliki, a teacher in one of the schools in Mecca, and his elder son were among the victims of the attack on Ataturk Airport in Istanbul. The rest of his family members were wounded while they were on their way to Turkey for vacation. Our colleague Nawaf Al-Qithami visited Al-Maliki's house and returned with the following report.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/we...of-a-Saudi-man-killed-in-Istanbul-attack.html
I think that it is time for Saudi Arabians and other Arab tourists, who are the most numerous visitors in terms of ethnicity, to seriously reconsider Turkey as a tourist destination given the currently volatile situation. Such large-scale terror attacks should not be allowed to occur at airports of this size. Very unfortunate regardless.
Last edited:
