The three suicide attackers who struck Istanbul’s main international airport this week are believed to have been planning to take dozens of people hostage, a Turkish newspaper reported on Friday.
A total of 44 people were killed in Tuesday night’s gun and bomb spree at Turkey’s busiest airport, the deadliest in a string of attacks to hit Istanbul this year.
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 earlier than planned after attracting suspicion, Sabah said. “The coats they were wearing to disguise their suicide vests, despite the hot weather, drew the attention of citizens and a police officer,” the paper said.
Turkish authorities believe the ISIS group was behind the carnage, and have identified the attackers as a Russian, an Uzbek and a Kyrgyz national.