Attacks At Istanbul Airport Kill Dozens, Injure More Than 100

UPDATED:

The U.S. Embassy in Turkey is investigating whether any Americans were among the at least 41 people killed and 147 wounded when three suicide bombers blew themselves up Tuesday at the country's largest airport.

President Obama has been briefed on the attack at Istanbul Ataturk airport. Officials called the explosions an act of terror, though no group immediately claimed responsibility.

Attention turned immediately to the Islamic State, whose positions inside of Syria have been targeted by Turkey, a member of a U.S.-led coalition against the group. Recently, the country has allowed U.S. aircraft to use one of its airbases to fly bombing raids to Syria.

The Associated Press, citing an anonymous Turkish official, had put the death toll as high as 50 and said the Islamic State was behind the attack. At 7:15 p.m. ET, the news organization later corrected the total to 31.

Turkey's justice minister said the death toll was expected to rise.

The AP said that two attackers blew themselves up at the international terminal as police shot at them. Turkey's justice minister said one attacker opened fire with an assault rifle before detonating his explosive. The New York Times reported one attacker was inside a terminal when he detonated his bomb and another was in a parking lot.

All flights through the airport have been canceled, according to AFP.

The U.S. State Department had issued a travel warning Monday, telling Americans to avoid travel to southeastern provinces of the country near Syria and Iraq.

"Foreign and U.S. tourists have been explicitly targeted by international and indigenous terrorist organizations," the warning said.

At LAX, a spokesperson said that there have been no threats made there and airport security will "remain vigilant in our mission."

There was extra police presence at New York City's JFK airport as a flight from Istanbul was scheduled to arrive, according to ABC7:

Donald Trump was the first U.S. presidential candidate to react to the news:

Hillary Clinton shared a statement Tuesday evening:

Istanbul Ataturk, in the northwestern part of the country, is the 11th busiest airport in the world, according to the AP.

Video of one of the explosions was shared on social media. Warning, the video may disturb some people:

Read more from The New York Times here.

Read more from the Associated Press here.

Image:By Ercan Karakas - SpotTR [GFDL or GFDL], via Wikimedia Commons