2016 Istanbul Airport Attack

Overview

The 2016 Istanbul Airport Attack was a terrorist attack carried out by three gunmen armed with fully automatic assault rifles and suicide vests at the Atatürk Airport in Istanbul, Turkey, which resulted in the deaths of 44 people and injured 239 people on June 28th, 2016.

Background

On June 28th, 2016, several men entered the Atatürk Airport, the largest and main international traffic hub in Turkey, and simultaneously launched a series of attacks at various locations within and nearby the complex, which involved mass shooting with fully automatic assault rifles and detonation of several explosive belts. As a result of the attacks, a total of 44 people were killed and at least 239 people were wounded. The exact number of the perpetrators remains unconfirmed, but at least three men are suspected of involvement in the attacks, although several witnesses claimed to have seen four armed men fleeing the scene shortly after the blasts. According to a United States intelligence source, the attacks were carried out over approximately 90 seconds.

Developments

Aftermath

Initially, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım accused ISIS of orchestrating the attack, although the Jihadist group has yet to claim responsibility. On June 30th, the BBC^[1] reported that the three suicide bombers were from various countries that were part of the former Soviet Union.

Online Reaction

Following initial news reports of the attack, the hashtag #PrayForTurkey began trending with tweets expressing condolences for the victims of the attack (shown below). Within 24 hours, the hashtag was tweeted over 300,000 times.^[2]

On Reddit, several posts about the attack reached the front page of /r/worldnews^[3] and /r/news^[4] subreddit. Meanwhile, posts were submitted to /r/The_Donald^[5][6] and /r/undelete^[7] accusing /r/news moderators of censoring discussions about the attack (shown below).

Also on June 28th, several videos of the airport during and after the attack surfaced on YouTube (shown below).

Search Interest

External References