Something going on at the airport in Istanbul. Just breaking now.

Terror attack
At least 10 dead

Since it appears to be suicide bombers and not your garden-variety USA nutjob shoot-up, I've made this a separate thread.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36658187

Bit more here:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36658187

The Brexit news tend to keep it away from headlines but here it is ...

Turkey Istanbul: Explosions and gunfire rock Ataturk airport
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36658187

Horrendous.

Turkish tourism minister must want to hang himself today...just as they kiss and make up with Russia.

Luckily the government was quick in forbidding (local) press coverage and social media so that tourism won't be affected any further:

This city doesn't deserve that!

Absolutely horrific.

Which city ever does?

Death toll is at 36 and over 150 injured, many badly, so most likely will the death toll rise further.


It was just last week that I thought I probably overreacted when I cancelled my trip on Easter. (The terrorists ruined my Easter...) Now? Not so much.


I feel sorry for the victims, the country and all the Turks who will have a harder time now: Yes, they got a crazy president, but they are one of the two countries (the other being Jordan) who carry the weight of the crisis in Syria and house a million refugees. I think tourism will hit an all time low and a lot of people will lose their jobs.


IS is clearly trying to provoke Erdogan to enter the conflict with force. I really really hope he won't. It's about the last thing Turkey needs.

Apparently the garden-variety USA nutjob ones. They don't even rate a separate thread anymore.


Or when it happens in Kabul - which didn't even register on the EF fake outrage meter.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Kabul_attack

How far worse can it get?
They hit every major city last 6-7 months
They hit the most guarded airport of the country
Clearly IS is well established in the country with a lot of sleeper cells

Turkey needs to show that the government is strictly against IS by imprisoning all IS fanatics, closing down IS-friendly camps, retail shops, media outlets, closing the Syrian border to all but real refugees, and blocking all direct/indirect support to IS. If there were any faint hope IS could be used to further other interests in Syria, they should be given up
By last year it should have been obvious to the government that a mad dog cannot be controlled

1) Right. It's not like you can get a Turkish visa on an IS passport... how would they possibly identify who is a terrorist? A lot of IS fighters come with EU passports... how do you know who is a real tourist vs a real terrorist?


2) Because having trade with your neighbour is a bad thing? I'd say the Syrians are very much relying on goods coming via the Turkish border... if Turkey blocks any transports will we have another million refugees within a week.

Not that I am an IS supporter, but as yet nobody has claimed responsibility for the attack. If it were an IS attack I presume that they would have claimed responsibility by now. In the meantime, I don't know, and neither do you.


There was an explosion in Mississauga Ontario yesterday. It was in all probability a natural gas explosion, but until someone figures it out: we do not know.

Didn't want to imply anything like that, rather to express my sympathy for Istanbul.
Absolutely no one, of course. But I particularly feel sorry for this one because I've been there couple of times and really enjoyed it, plus in other places in Turkey. I'd hate to see how the whole country will be dragged down because of these nutters.

Well, we do know by now that it was several suicide bombers who first had a gun fight with the cops... which is kind of pointing into one direction, isn't it? Attacks in Turkey are either IS or Kurdish separatists. I do not think there are "good" terrorists, but the Kurds see themselves as guerillas in a civil war - they usually attack police or military targets and don't really do suicide bombings. That's more of a thing for radical Muslims wanting to become martyrs...

29th of June 2014 was the date IS announced Caliphate.

I see the merit in your conjecture. Everyone has a right to an opinion, that does not mean that they have a right to their own set of facts.


I am not trying to be annoying here, although that may well be the only result. There are so many people shooting from the hip recently that I despair.


I know someone who is there (and I presume I am not alone in this). I was worried, and very thankful to see that he marked himself as safe on Facebook.