When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

Already a subscriber? Log in .

You've reached your limit of one free article.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime .

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Exclusive International news coverage

Ad-free experience NEW

Weekly digital Magazine NEW

9 daily & weekly Newsletters

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Free trial

30-days free access, then $2.90
per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch
Turkey

How The Istanbul Airport Attack Unfolded

Exclusive details on how three terrorists launched their bloody attack that killed more than 40 people — and how two police officers helped avert an even higher death toll.

Police officers Tuesday night at the entrance to Istanbul's main airport.
Police officers Tuesday night at the entrance to Istanbul's main airport.
Abdulkadir Selvi

ISTANBUL — Three men hailed a cab from the center of Istanbul around 9 p.m. Tuesday, and headed to Ataturk Airport. After being dropped off, one of the men stood near the entrance to the international terminal, where a police officer grew suspicious and texted his colleague: "He's wearing a coat on a summer day, he looks like a burglar."

Five minutes later, the terrorists launched their attack.

At first, the officer followed the suspicious man. In front of the departures terminal, he stopped the man and asked him to show identification. The terrorist pretended to bend down to reach for it, and started to shoot. He fired three rounds and the officer was critically injured.

The terrorist then ran down a flight of steps to the arrivals terminal and out of the building, and blew himself up next to a taxi stand at 9:51 p.m. The officer who risked his life to stop the attack became a hero. His intervention helped foil the terrorists' action plan. He was taken to the hospital, where he has been fighting for his life. His wife is six months pregnant with their first child.

At the scene of the attack, the other two terrorists ran inside the international terminal. They stopped for a brief moment in front of the x-ray security check. With the sound of the first explosion, they opened fire with their Kalashnikov rifles. While one shot people on the right side, the other targeted those on the left while they both kept walking. It's at that point that the second police officer, who had earlier been alerted by his colleague, returned fire.

"I took cover and started shooting. A gunfight ensued. I shot him. I continued shooting when he fell down but I couldn't shoot him in the head. He was moving on the ground. At that moment I understood that he was a suicide bomber and threw myself behind a pillar. He pulled the pin and blew himself up," the officer recounted. He was also taken to the hospital.

[rebelmouse-image 27090341 alt="""" original_size="720x450" expand=1]

A CCTV image of one of the suspected attackers

The third terrorist, while firing at everyone around him, ran down a staircase. On the ground floor, a customs officer intervened and the terrorist detonated his suicide vest.

The quick action of the two police officers and their attention to detail prevented a larger massacre. The whole attack — shootings, gunfight with police, explosions — lasted three to four minutes.

The terrorists themselves may not have been Turkish. From the taxi driver's statement, it appears they were not Arab. One of them might be from Dagestan (in the north Caucasus region). Their origins are still under investigation: Did they come from Syria or was this attack planned and executed within Turkey by operatives from the Islamic State (ISIS) terror group? The terrorist from Dagestan apparently came in a plane from another country.

The investigation is reviewing 361 surveillance cameras. In early June, the Turkish National Intelligence Organization alerted authorities of a possible ISIS attack on the airport. After this warning, security precautions at the airport doubled. That's why the terrorists were not able to actually infiltrate the main airport building.

The terrorists were familiar with the airport, especially the international terminal, meaning they probably went to survey it before the attack. The trio left behind two Kalashnikov automatic rifles, two Glock semi-automatic pistols, a grenade and a suicide vest.

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Economy

How A Xi Jinping Dinner In San Francisco May Have Sealed Mastercard's Arrival In China

The credit giant becomes only the second player after American Express to be allowed to set up a bank card-clearing RMB operation in mainland China.

Photo of a hand holding a phone displaying an Union Pay logo, with a Mastercard VISA logo in the background of the photo.

Mastercard has just been granted a bank card clearing license in China.

Liu Qianshan

-Analysis-

It appears that one of the biggest beneficiaries from Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to San Francisco was Mastercard.

The U.S. credit card giant has since secured eagerly anticipated approval to expand in China's massive financial sector, having finally obtained long sought approval from China's central bank and financial regulatory authorities to initiate a bank card business in China through its joint venture with its new Chinese partner.

For the latest news & views from every corner of the world, Worldcrunch Today is the only truly international newsletter. Sign up here.

Through a joint venture in China between Mastercard and China's NetsUnion Clearing Corporation, dubbed Mastercard NUCC, it has officially entered mainland China as an RMB currency clearing organization. It's only the second foreign business of its kind to do so following American Express in 2020.

The Wall Street Journal has reported that the development is linked to Chinese President Xi Jinping's meeting on Nov. 15 with U.S. President Joe Biden in San Francisco, part of a two-day visit that also included dinner that Xi had with U.S. business executives.

Keep reading...Show less

The latest