Terror Attack in Istanbul Kills 41 as Airport Reopens

The death toll in Tuesday's deadly terrorist attack that rocked Istanbul's international airport, rose from 36 to 41, the governor of Istanbul, Vasip Sahin, said Wednesday morning. The number of injured also rose to 239 from 147, he said.

Sahin added that at least 13 foreign nationals were among the dead, three of whom were dual Turkish nationals. Also, no Westerners are currently listed as dead; five are from Saudi Arabia, while the others are from elsewhere in the region.

Following the attack, Turkish officials scrambled to resume operations at the country's largest airport, while victims' loved ones descended upon a nearby hospital.

Prime minister Binali Yildirim, who said a trio of armed attackers arrived at the airport in a taxi and blew themselves up after opening fire, remains convinced that ISIS is behind the attack.

And in a statement he tweeted Wednesday morning, President Tayyip Erdogan said, "This attack once again revealed the dark face of terrorist organizations targeting innocent civilians. It is obvious that this attack does not aim to attain any results but merely aims to produce propaganda material against our country by shedding the blood of and causing pain for innocent civilians.”

Despite the devastation caused by the attack — workers spent the night removing debris from the blast — Prime Minister Yildirim said at a press conference Wednesday that Ataturk International Airport had resumed "flights and departures from 2:20 a.m. [local time] on."

But the airport was far from fully operational: The international arrivals area remained closed, and according to The AP, an information board inside showed that about one-third of scheduled flights had been canceled, with a host of others delayed. Still, Turkish Airlines' website said "flight operations have been restarted," and flights between Turkey and the U.S. resumed after a brief stoppage.

Anxious friends and family members of the victims congregated at Istanbul's Bakirkoy Hospital, located about four miles east of the airport, where the victims were taken.

"You can hear that people are wailing here," Serdar Tatlisu, a relative of a victim, told The AP. "We cannot cope anymore, we can't just stay still. We need some kind of solution for whatever problem there is."

The Turkish Red Crescent, part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, dispatched workers to the hospital. "We hold hands of families who wait for their loved ones in front of the hospitals in Istanbul #YouAreNotAlone," the organization tweeted Wednesday morning.

As of Wednesday morning, a breakdown of the victims' nationalities was unknown, including whether or not any Americans were among the injured or dead. The U.S. State Department had yet to comment.

Saudi Arabia's Embassy in Turkey, though, said at least seven of its citizens were injured in the attack and all are in stable condition. And according to The AP, Turkish officials said an Iranian and a Ukranian were among the victims.

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