Istanbul airport attack: Turkey's battle with Islamic State over 3 years

On Tuesday, Istanbul Ataturk airport was rocked by suicide bombings that killed at least 36 people and injured 147 others. Among the dead are the three suicide bombers. Although no group has claimed responsibility yet, the Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim blamed the Islamic State (IS) for the attacks. [caption id=“attachment_2862014” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] A woman outside Istanbul’s Ataturk airport after a suspected IS suicide bombing. AP[/caption] Turkey has been facing the brunt of Islamic State attacks for some years now. The country saw its first IS attacks in 2013 , when twin car bombs at the Turkish- Syrian border killed over 50 people and injured another 100 people. In the beginning of 2014, Turkish forces conducted an air strike on an Islamic State convoy destroying their three vehicles- a pick-up truck, a lorry and a bus. Six months later, Turkey blacklisted Islamic State and Al-Nusra Front. Soon after that when IS took over Mosul, they captured the Turkish Consulate and held its 49-member staff as hostage for over two months. In September that year, Turkey joined hands with the US and nine other countries to form a coalition to fight the IS. [caption id=“attachment_2862018” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Turkish forensic police officers work at the scene of the blast outside Istanbul’s Ataturk airport. AP[/caption] In June 2015, Turkey conducted its General Elections. Just three weeks before the elections , at a rally of pro-Kurdish activists near Ankara’s main railway station, two bombs exploded within a few seconds, killing four and injuring 100 others. Another horrific bombing took place at a gathering of a group of university-aged students in Suruc, killing 31 and injuring 104 people. But Turkey saw one of its worst attacks when two suicide bombers blew themselves up in the midst of a group of peace activists at its capital Ankara in 2015. The blasts saw the death toll reaching almost a 100 people.  While no group claimed responsibility for the attacks, the government pointed fingers at IS and also had doubts on Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and leftist militants. Turkey took a strong step in fighting the IS militants by granting permission for American warplanes to use two Turkish air bases. [caption id=“attachment_2862020” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Members of a flight crew leave Istanbul’s Ataturk airport after the blast. AP[/caption] 2016 brought along a fresh series of attacks on Turkey. In January, Istanbul witnessed a suicide blast that killed 10 people, most of whom were  Germans, and wounded 15 others. Merely two months later, a shopping district in Istanbul was targeted, killing five people and injuring 36. Like the previous attack, here too, most of the victims were foreigners, a majority of them being Israelis.