TERRORIST ATTACK IN TURKEY

Turkey: 31 killed in explosions at Ataturk Airport

Three suicide bombers hit Ataturk Airport, killing and injuring dozens of people.

AL  JAZEERA, June 28.

At least 31 people have been killed and 60 others injured following explosions at Istanbul's main international airport, Turkish officials say.

Istanbul's governor, Vasip Sahin, said there were at least three people involved in the attack at Ataturk Airport late on Tuesday evening.

Most of the casualties were Turkish citizens, a senior government official said.

The attackers opened fire at airport guards at the terminal entrance and a shootout erupted before they blew themselves up one by one at around 10pm, authorities said.

Security camera footage appeared to capture two of the blasts. In one clip a huge ball of flame erupts at an entrance to the terminal building, scattering terrified passengers.

Another video shows a black-clad attacker running inside the building before collapsing to the ground - apparently felled by a police bullet - and blowing himself up.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for a "joint fight" against terror after the attack [EPA]

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but suspicion fell on the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) or the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for a "joint fight" against terror after the attack.

"If states, as all humanity, fail to join forces and wage a joint fight against terrorist organisations, all the possibilities that we dread in our minds will come true one by one," he said in a statement.

OPINION: The wrong mindset to fight terrorism

Images from local television showed people running away from the airport as injured were ferried away in taxis and ambulances.

One of the attackers "randomly opened fire" as he walked through the terminal building, shortly before three explosions, a witness told Reuters.

"We came right to international departures and saw the man randomly shooting. He was just firing at anyone coming in front of him. He was wearing all black. His face was not masked. I was 50 metres away from him," said Paul Roos, 77, a South African tourist on his way back to Cape Town with his wife.

"We ducked behind a counter but I stood up and watched him. Two explosions went off shortly after one another. By that time he had stopped shooting," Roos said.

"He turned around and started coming towards us. He was holding his gun inside his jacket. He looked around anxiously to see if anyone was going to stop him and then went down the escalator ... We heard some more gunfire and then another explosion, and then it was over."

Ataturk Airport is one of the busiest ports in the world serving more than 60 million passengers in 2015.

All outbound flights have been cancelled, while most of the inbound flights have been diverted. Planes already approaching the airport were allowed to land. 

There has been a string of bombings around Turkey over the past year, some of them blamed on ISIL, others claimed by Kurdish fighters.

Earlier in June, at least 11 people were killed in central Istanbul following a bombing attack targeting a police vehicle. The armed group Kurdistan Freedom Hawks, also known by its Kurdish-language acronym TAK, claimed responsibility for that attack.