UPDATE 11.41am: Turkey’s Prime Minister Binali Yildirim has confirmed there were three suicide bombers in the airport attack, each firing a weapon before detonating explosives.
He said they arrived at the airport by taxi and carried out the attack at the international airport’s entrance, Strait Times reported. The PM has ruled out any security failings at the gateway.
Flights, which have been suspended, will resume from 3.00am (local time).
UPDATE 10.10am: The death toll in Turkey’s airport explosion has climbed to at least 32 people and another 147 wounded.
According to the country’s Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag, three bombers were among the dead. Some 49 ambulances were sent to the gateway following the attack.
A statement from The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs said the gateway will be closed for up to 48 hours. Travel advice to Turkey has been updated to ‘reconsider your need to travel’. The organsation is urging Aussies to “remain attentive to their surroundings and follow the instructions of local authorities”.
“The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is urgently seeking to determine whether any Australians have been affected.”
DFAT
Originally published: Around 28 people are believed to have been killed and another 60 injured in twin explosions at Turkey’s Ataturk Airport in Istanbul.
Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag has confirmed that an attacker opened fire with a Kalashnikov at the entrance of the gateway’s international terminal overnight. He then following his rifle attack by detonating an explosion that killed at least 20 people around him.
There’s also reports of a second explosion organised by a second attacker, who used the first bomb as a distraction to pass through the x-ray security check.
JUST IN: Video shows people hiding inside a store at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport after blasts https://t.co/XEB0HSGmzYhttps://t.co/dJgewfIn8b
— CNN (@CNN) June 28, 2016
“According to the information I was given, a terrorist at the international terminal entrance first opened fire with a Kalashnikov and then blew himself up.”
Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag
While officials collect more information, the gateway has confirmed flights have been affected. Planes will be allowed to land at the airport until 9.10pm GMT. Outgoing flights have been delayed and some cancelled until further notice.
Meanwhile, the Australian embassy in Turkey is believed to be working with the local government to establish if any Australians were affected in the explosions, The Australian reported.
Ataturk Airport’s bombing is the latest in a strong of recent attacks in Turkey, including a car bombing in June which killed 11 people; a car bombing in Ankara in March resulting in 34 deaths; and an attack on military buses in February.
This page will be updated as more information comes to hand.