土耳其机场死亡人数上升,总理呼吁全国团结

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 36 people at Istanbul's Ataturk international airport.

Yildirim, flanked by members of his cabinet, said three suicide bombers 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. The attack wounded 147 people.

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.