VOA常速英語：機(jī)場死亡人數(shù)增加，土耳其總理號召各國聯(lián)合

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Turkish PM Calls for National Unity as Airport Death Toll Rises

Lou Lorscheider, Dorian Jones

Last updated on: June 28, 2016 9:13 PM

WASHINGTON/ISTANBUL—

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim issued a call for national unity early Wednesday as his country faced a rising death toll from a suicide attack that killed at least 39 people at Istanbul's Ataturk international airport.

Yildirim, flanked by members of his cabinet, said the death toll included three suicide bombers who arrived by taxi Tuesday evening at the busy airport and opened fire with automatic weapons, shooting randomly at bystanders before detonating explosives as police closed in. He said many more were wounded, "some in serious condition." Authorities earlier placed the toll of wounded at about 60.

VOA's Dorian Jones in Istanbul said one of the bombers detonated his explosives outside the international arrival terminal. That area is usually packed with people waiting for transportation. The two other attackers are believed to have tried to enter the terminal, which is protected by heavily armed police and X-ray machines.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. But Yildirim said early evidence pointed to an attack by Islamic State extremists, whom he identified by the Arabic pejorative Daesh. He called the attack "cowardly" and vowed his country would continue to press its fight against extremism.

"Unity will be the best answer to terrorists," he said.

Islamic State was blamed for two suicide bombings earlier this year in Istanbul that targeted foreign tourists. Analysts have said the group does not claim responsibility for attacks in Turkey.

The Kurdish rebel group PKK also has carried out suicide bombings, but it usually targets security forces, as it did this month in an attack on a police bus that killed 11 people.

In the last year, both Ankara and Istanbul have seen scores killed in bombings, blamed both on Islamic State and Kurdish rebels.

Television footage Tuesday showed scenes of bedlam at Ataturk, Turkey's largest airport and one of the busiest in the world.