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Turkey: 'suicide attackers Istanbul Airport from ex-Soviet Union'

(Vatican Radio) Turkish authorities say the three suicide bombers who carried out the deadly attack on Istanbul's main airport were nationals of Russia and other Central Asia nations. The announcement came shortly after the Turkish and Russian presidents spoke each other for the first time in months.  Listen to the report by Stefan Bos: Turkish officials said the three men directly involved in Tuesday's deadly attack on Istanbul's main airport were all from parts of the former Soviet Union. One is said to be from Russia's restive North Caucasus region and the others from Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.Tuesday’s gunfire and suicide bombing attack at Ataturk Airport killed 42 people and wounded more than 230 others.The statement came as counter-terror teams reportedly launched 16 simultaneous raids in Istanbul. Turkish police told local media that they detained 13 people, including three foreign nationals, in connection with the attack. Turkish media ...

(Vatican Radio) Turkish authorities say the three suicide bombers who carried out the deadly attack on Istanbul's main airport were nationals of Russia and other Central Asia nations. The announcement came shortly after the Turkish and Russian presidents spoke each other for the first time in months.  

Listen to the report by Stefan Bos:

Turkish officials said the three men directly involved in Tuesday's deadly attack on Istanbul's main airport were all from parts of the former Soviet Union. One is said to be from Russia's restive North Caucasus region and the others from Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.

Tuesday’s gunfire and suicide bombing attack at Ataturk Airport killed 42 people and wounded more than 230 others.

The statement came as counter-terror teams reportedly launched 16 simultaneous raids in Istanbul. Turkish police told local media that they detained 13 people, including three foreign nationals, in connection with the attack. 

Turkish media said the trio was part of a seven-person cell who entered Turkey on May 25. The assailants raised the suspicion of airport security on the day of the attack because they showed up in winter jackets on a summer day. 

SURVIVORS RECALL HORRORS

But that was apparently not enough to prevent the bloodshed, as survivors could testify. "I was in the lounge, I was just changing flights here and I was in the Turkish Airlines lounge and just taking a nap actually and than the blast woke me up it was very very close," recalled survivor Thomas Kemper. "And than the gunfire and the shooting. And first you think you are in a film, but than people started running."   

Eyewitness Laurence Cameron, who had just landed from Latvia, had a similar experience. "So as it came out we really saw the full extend of it. [We] walked around the corner into the main terminal, just to see people screaming, running, tripping, police with guns drawn," Cameron explained.  

"So I took a few pictures. But than police started to pushing us back, back to the main terminal. And it quickly became clear, that this wasn't a drill or a hoax or anything like that," he added. 

Some agencies named one of the men as Osman Vadinov, said to have crossed into Turkey from the Islamic State group  stronghold of Raqqa in Syria in 2015. The organizer of the attack has been named by Turkish media as Akhmed Chatayev, a Chechen believed to have acted as a recruiter for the Islamic State group. 

He had been on a US counter-terror sanctions list, but his fate was not immediately clear.

OVERSHADOWING PRESIDENTIAL TALKS

IS has long recruited members from mainly Muslim parts of the former Soviet Union with Russian President Vladimir Putin putting the overall number at between 5,000 and 7,000 in October. However security experts say the real number may be roughly 3,500 fighters from these areas. 

News that fighters from Russia and other ex-Soviet parts were involved came at a sensitive time. Hours earlier Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan held their first phone call since Ankara downed one of Moscow's jets in Syria last year.

The breakthrough phone call came after the Turkish strongman on Monday sent a letter to Putin that Moscow said contained an apology for the November incident.

Soon after the phone call Putin ordered his government to lift sanctions against Turkey while Erdogan said the call re-prioritized their commitment to fighting terror. 

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