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Two Men Detained at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport


Ankara- Turkish police opened fire on a motorcycle after it refused to stop at a checkpoint at Istanbul’s main Ataturk Airport on Sunday.

One of two men aboard the motorcycle was wounded and detained and the second was apprehended by police after a pursuit.

No police or civilians were reported hurt and flights schedules were also not affected.

The security officials closed off all entry and exit points at the airport during the hunt for the two suspects.

The suspects were reportedly both intoxicated and one of them had a criminal record for theft.

The Turkish Airlines made a statement following the incident, announcing that all flights would resume without a delay and that the situation at the airport returned to normal.

Local news sources earlier claimed that one of the suspects was carrying a gun, but Istanbul’s governor Vasip Şahin denied the claim, and tweeted that no weapons or explosives were found on the suspects.

Turkish authorities have taken strict security measures in Ataturk Airport after suicide bombers suspected of belonging to ISIS killed 41 people and wounded some 240 others in June with gunfire and explosives at the airport.

The latest incident did not affect flights at Ataturk, Europe’s third-busiest airport since it is the hub of state-run carrier Turkish Airlines.

Moreover, security forces also raised their state of alertness across Istanbul, especially at vital and crowded areas and at borders of Gaziantep Security Directorate following Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s recorded message stating an attack on Turkey, Thursday.

Turkey has faced a string of terrorist attacks over the past year, including several in Istanbul, as it confronts threats from both ISIS and Kurdish militants.