ISTANBUL BOMBERS PLANNED HOSTAGE-TAKING; Turkey makes more arrests

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In this framegrab from CCTV video, made available by the Turkish Haberturk newspaper on June 30, people believed to be the attackers walk in Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport on June 28. Three attackers carried out a gun-and-suicide bomb attack, killing dozens and wounding scores of others at the busy airport late Tuesday. (AP)
In this framegrab from CCTV video, made available by the Turkish Haberturk newspaper on June 30, people believed to be the attackers walk in Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport on June 28. Three attackers carried out a gun-and-suicide bomb attack, killing dozens and wounding scores of others at the busy airport late Tuesday. (AP)

ISTANBUL, July 1, (Agencies): The suicide attackers who launched the deadly Istanbul airport assault were planning to take dozens of passengers hostage, Turkish media reported Friday, as two of the bombers were identified. Turkish officials have pointed blame at the Islamic State jihadist group for Tuesday’s gun and bomb spree at Ataturk airport, which left 44 people dead including 19 foreigners.

“They say they are doing this in the name of Islam,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on a visit to Istanbul. “That has nothing to do with Islam. Their place is in hell,” he added. State-run news agency Anadolu said 24 people had been detained in Istanbul in a string of raids over the attack, including 15 foreigners. Citing a prosecution source, the agency named two of the attackers as Rakim Bulgarov and Vadim Osmanov, without giving their nationalities. Officials had previously said the three bombers were a Russian, an Uzbek and a Kyrgyz national.

Police had also found a damaged laptop in a dustbin near an Istanbul apartment used by the attackers and were trying to retrieve information from it, Anadolu added. Turkish media identified the strike’s organiser as Akhmed Chatayev, the Chechen leader of an IS cell in Istanbul who reportedly found accommodation for the bombers. Chatayev allegedly organised two deadly bombings this year in the heart of the city’s Sultanahmet tourist district and the busy Istiklal shopping street, the Hurriyet newspaper said.

Michael McCaul, chairman of the US House Committee on Homeland Security, described Chatayev as “probably the number one enemy in the Northern Caucasus region of Russia”. “He’s travelled to Syria on many occasions and became one of the top lieutenants for the minister of war for ISIS operations,” McCaul told CNN. Swedish court documents seen by AFP showed the 36-year-old had been sentenced to 16 months in jail there in 2008 for arms trafficking, after which he would be deported. He was granted political asylum in Austria in 2003.

The pro-government Sabah newspaper reported that the attackers scouted the scene and planned to take dozens of passengers hostage inside before carrying out a massacre. But they began the assault early after attracting suspicion, Sabah said. CCTV images released by police show the three alleged attackers arriving, wearing dark coats over their suicide vests — clothing that was much too heavy for a hot summer night. More images show a plainclothes police officer confronting one of the men and asking to see his identification. The attacker pulls out a gun and shoots him. Turkey has been rocked by a series of attacks in the past year blamed on either IS jihadists or Kurdish rebels.

These have taken a heavy hit on tourism, and on Friday Germany warned its citizens to exercise particular caution if they travel to Turkey. The latest assault sparked global condemnation, with consuls from a dozen countries around Europe and beyond gathering at the airport Friday to lay a wreath. Hundreds of mourners also gathered in Istanbul on Thursday for the funeral of popular 28-year-old teacher Huseyin Tunc, who was at the airport welcoming a friend. “We still can’t believe it,” one of his pupils, Batuhan Karabey, told AFP. “He was more than a teacher to us — he was like a big brother, helping us a lot.” Hurriyet reported the bombers had rented a flat in Istanbul’s Fatih district and paid 24,000 Turkish lira ($8,300, 7,500 euros) in advance for a year’s rent.

The police raided the apartment after the attack, according to an upstairs neighbour, who said the men kept the curtains closed. She never saw the attackers, but she heard them, and complained to neighbourhood officials about a strange smell. “A very weird, chemical smell,” she told Hurriyet. “Police came after the bombing … I lived on top of the bomb.” Hurriyet also quoted a local plumber, identified only by his initials E.S., who said one of the attackers came to his shop to ask if he could fix their tap. “He spoke in broken Turkish. He took me home,” the plumber said. “I changed the tap. I saw three people inside. They looked like bandits — one of them always stood by me.”

Saida Bayoudh’s only son joined the Islamic State group and her husband Fathi flew from Tunisia to Turkey to bring him home. Instead the father returned alone to be buried Friday, a victim of the Istanbul airport attack. Hundreds of men and women, many of them in tears, turned out for the funeral of Saida’s husband, Fathi Bayoudh, who was laid to rest in the cemetery of his home town of Ksour Essef, south of Tunis. He was among the 44 people killed in Tuesday night’s gun and bomb spree at Istanbul’s Ataturk airport. Fathi Bayoudh’s body was flown back to Tunis and received in a military ceremony on Thursday. Turkish officials have pointed the finger of blame at the Islamic State jihadist group, although no one has claimed responsibility for the carnage.

Late last year, Saida and her husband learned that their only son Anouar, 26, had joined IS in Iraq and then in Syria, like thousands of other young Tunisians. But the young man had a change of heart after he realised the jihadists were “monsters”, his mother told AFP earlier as friends and relatives gathered to pay their condolences. Her face pale and drawn, she recounted how over the past two months her husband, who headed the paediatric unit of Tunis military hospital, did everything in his power to bring Anouar home. “My husband … did the impossible to save his son,” Saida said.

For two months, Fathi Bayoudh, who took an unpaid leave of absence from his job, travelled back and forth between Tunisia and Turkey to try to track down his son. Anouar, who had turned himself in to the anti-regime Free Syrian Army after realising that he no longer wanted to be part of IS, was arrested and jailed in Turkey.

On the day before the attack that claimed his life, Fathi finally received word that Anouar was on Turkish soil. For the couple, the nightmare was almost over. Saida flew to Istanbul for the reunion and Fathi was at Ataturk airport to greet her when the attackers struck. “He was extremely happy … and he asked me to come quickly to Turkey,” she said before sighing deeply.

“On Tuesday, he was at the airport to meet me.” She recalls how stunned she was when she first heard that Anouar had joined IS and how it affected her and her husband’s health. Saida suffered two mild heart attacks since October and her husband lost 20 kilos (44 pounds) in weight within weeks.

As Turkey pressed ahead with an investigation into the triple suicide bombing at Istanbul’s busiest airport bombing and track down suspects, its security forces killed the mastermind of an earlier suicide bombing, an official said Friday.

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