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Details are still developing, but via the AP, two explosions have just gone off at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport (IST), in addition to gunfire, wounding multiple people. As of now it’s unclear whether this was a suicide attack or something else, though I suspect we’ll know a lot more very soon.
Here’s to hoping the number of injuries is minimal.
Ugh, a crazy world we live in!
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Having worked at the Taj Mahal Mumbai during 26/11 (the Mumbai attacks in 2008), and then working to get the hotel back up and running in 3 weeks, followed by the grand reopening of the Palace Wing (the bit that was on fire), I can only say that refusing to travel to a certain place is giving in to the terrorists. Those scum tried to blow up the dome of the hotel, which is its most recognisable symbol, but the Grand Old Lady (thats what we call the hotel) never gave in. It was thanks to our customers, from around the world, that the Taj Mahal Palace, & the Oberoi are both back, and better than ever. We can never wipe away the memories of those dark days. But we can always come back stronger to show those cowards that we will never give in.
there were 42 killed 147 injured as of now
@Takhliq Khan, Aziz, and Tom I have no idea what your points are about. I was responding to a post by Greg where he expressed concern about transiting IST. I was simply saying nowhere is safe anymore. I agree that hiding in your basement at home is giving into the terrorists. Yes most of the terrorist acts I mentioned were not in airports, which was exactly my point. Why worry about transiting IST when simply being outside in Paris or on the tube in London is far more dangerous? As for the fact that the vast majority of people killed by Muslim Fascists are Muslim, or course. If Greg, who I was responding to, had said he was a Muslim, I'd have mentioned that fact. But there was nothing in his comment to indicate that. I didn't think this was a forum to discuss Sunni suicide bombers hitting Shia Mosques when they are packed full with worshippers on Shia Holy Days in Pakistan. Nor the Iranian backed Shia Militias torturing Sunni residents of the cities they are taking back from ISIS in Northern Iraq. I still don't, but that doesn't mean I am either ignorant nor uncaring about that. @SamOH Pretty clear what your political agenda is, as your post is simply a series of slurs with no substance whatsoever... :(
Having worked at the Taj Mahal Mumbai during 26/11 (the Mumbai attacks in 2008), and then working to get the hotel back up and running in 3 weeks, followed by the grand reopening of the Palace Wing (the bit that was on fire), I can only say that refusing to travel to a certain place is giving in to the terrorists. Those scum tried to blow up the dome of the hotel, which is its...
Having worked at the Taj Mahal Mumbai during 26/11 (the Mumbai attacks in 2008), and then working to get the hotel back up and running in 3 weeks, followed by the grand reopening of the Palace Wing (the bit that was on fire), I can only say that refusing to travel to a certain place is giving in to the terrorists. Those scum tried to blow up the dome of the hotel, which is its most recognisable symbol, but the Grand Old Lady (thats what we call the hotel) never gave in. It was thanks to our customers, from around the world, that the Taj Mahal Palace, & the Oberoi are both back, and better than ever.
We can never wipe away the memories of those dark days. But we can always come back stronger to show those cowards that we will never give in.
there were 42 killed 147 injured as of now
@Takhliq Khan, Aziz, and Tom I have no idea what your points are about. I was responding to a post by Greg where he expressed concern about transiting IST. I was simply saying nowhere is safe anymore. I agree that hiding in your basement at home is giving into the terrorists.
Yes most of the terrorist acts I mentioned were not in airports, which was exactly my point. Why worry about transiting IST when...
@Takhliq Khan, Aziz, and Tom I have no idea what your points are about. I was responding to a post by Greg where he expressed concern about transiting IST. I was simply saying nowhere is safe anymore. I agree that hiding in your basement at home is giving into the terrorists.
Yes most of the terrorist acts I mentioned were not in airports, which was exactly my point. Why worry about transiting IST when simply being outside in Paris or on the tube in London is far more dangerous?
As for the fact that the vast majority of people killed by Muslim Fascists are Muslim, or course. If Greg, who I was responding to, had said he was a Muslim, I'd have mentioned that fact. But there was nothing in his comment to indicate that. I didn't think this was a forum to discuss Sunni suicide bombers hitting Shia Mosques when they are packed full with worshippers on Shia Holy Days in Pakistan. Nor the Iranian backed Shia Militias torturing Sunni residents of the cities they are taking back from ISIS in Northern Iraq. I still don't, but that doesn't mean I am either ignorant nor uncaring about that.
@SamOH Pretty clear what your political agenda is, as your post is simply a series of slurs with no substance whatsoever... :(
Those who seek to terrorise have long since recognised that airports, railway stations, buses, metro systems, shopping malls are soft targets. There is no way to protect them 100% and similar attacks have been going on for decades ( back to the 70s in Athens, Rome, Bologna, Tel Aviv and more recently in other places).
They will continue and probably become more frequent as the more traditional fighting is losing.
This attack is...
Those who seek to terrorise have long since recognised that airports, railway stations, buses, metro systems, shopping malls are soft targets. There is no way to protect them 100% and similar attacks have been going on for decades ( back to the 70s in Athens, Rome, Bologna, Tel Aviv and more recently in other places).
They will continue and probably become more frequent as the more traditional fighting is losing.
This attack is audacious and dreadful but if someone wants to do it, willing to die in the act, not much will stop them: if it's not an airport it would be a shopping mall or a school or a church.
Clearly there is a heightened risk in Turkey and Egypt but there is risk everywhere: in Brussels recently I used the metro a lot , including Maalbeek (sp?) where the bomb went off. At every station, armed soldiers boarded every train, scoured the carriage and got off. What more can they do? If they have a stop and search or X-ray, Paris, London, NYC would grind to a halt.
I will still take the risk .
@ Robert,
Lucky covers airports and flying:
Boston - not an airport
San Bernardino - not an airport
Paris - not an airport
Orlando - not an airport
IST - At an airport, we have a winner!
Also you forgot BRU which Lucky also covered.
This is like one of those SAT logic problems. Which of these things is not like the other.
And for all of you who are...
@ Robert,
Lucky covers airports and flying:
Boston - not an airport
San Bernardino - not an airport
Paris - not an airport
Orlando - not an airport
IST - At an airport, we have a winner!
Also you forgot BRU which Lucky also covered.
This is like one of those SAT logic problems. Which of these things is not like the other.
And for all of you who are scared of going to these countries after attacks, you are letting the terrorists win. You are still way more likely being killed every day in a car accident (especially in Turkey) than in a terrorist attack in one of these "dangerous" cities. The attacks are dramatic, but they are rare and isolated. Tell the terrorists FU by not changing your behavior in response to their cowardess.
As of now, 36 dead, 147 injured...
@ Robert Hanson
Obviously, you are a by product of Faux News propaganda machine...Well done....keep living in that alternate reality world of yours...
I think Robert was trying to tell something else.
@ Robert Hansen
How inconsiderate and ignorant are you?
Paris, London, Orlando and California are all that matters to you. But attacks occurring elsewhere in the world simply never happened?
For every western city there are two eastern ones that have been hit hard by terrorists. And by terrorists I mean those carrying weapons and attacking civilians.
Let's not talk about western countries bombing the hell out of the rest of the world,...
@ Robert Hansen
How inconsiderate and ignorant are you?
Paris, London, Orlando and California are all that matters to you. But attacks occurring elsewhere in the world simply never happened?
For every western city there are two eastern ones that have been hit hard by terrorists. And by terrorists I mean those carrying weapons and attacking civilians.
Let's not talk about western countries bombing the hell out of the rest of the world, because of course these aren't acts of terror at all.
Hi, lucky. I booked one of those SFO-AMS-IST R/T business class on KLM for $1000 a few weeks ago and was planning on a 3 week long vacation in Turkey. I know there's really no "safe" cities on earth, but at this point, I just don't really feel like going to Turkey anymore (There's been 3 major explosions in Istanbul alone since I booked my tix) so I phoned KLM. The KLM agent said they...
Hi, lucky. I booked one of those SFO-AMS-IST R/T business class on KLM for $1000 a few weeks ago and was planning on a 3 week long vacation in Turkey. I know there's really no "safe" cities on earth, but at this point, I just don't really feel like going to Turkey anymore (There's been 3 major explosions in Istanbul alone since I booked my tix) so I phoned KLM. The KLM agent said they are waiving change fees through July 5th but my tix are for Mid August. Any suggestion on how to change my ticket? I kinda still want to go to Europe for the summer, just not Turkey... I even offered to drop my AMS-IST legs and just simply make it a R/T for SFO-AMS but the agent still decline to waive fees... I bought my ticket with AMEX PRG and I am not sure if they offer any sort of insurance/change fee wavier benefits? I would like to hear your thoughts on how to change/cancel ticket to Istanbul! Thanks!
Don't know if you've seen this but there's this video of the attacker being shot by a police and then the explosion going off.
https://twitter.com/sco1905/status/747902680220205056
@Robert Hansen
You are a mentally ill person. There are far more muslims killed by your so called radical islamists than non muslims. Just in Pakistan alone, the number is over 60,000. I guess those lives don't matter.
I was with DG on that, I had no clue what Robert Hansen was trying to say, and even after the further explanation I'm still not sure that anything coherent came out. There were terrorists attacks in several cities so therefore Istanbul is safe, I think is what he was trying to say, but honestly I'm not sure because I have no idea how the '72 Olympics have anything to do with this either.
Istanbul...
I was with DG on that, I had no clue what Robert Hansen was trying to say, and even after the further explanation I'm still not sure that anything coherent came out. There were terrorists attacks in several cities so therefore Istanbul is safe, I think is what he was trying to say, but honestly I'm not sure because I have no idea how the '72 Olympics have anything to do with this either.
Istanbul has had SEVERAL attacks in the last few months, this isn't the first, and most in tourist areas. Turkey as a whole has seen even more recently. So, attacks happen all over the world, yes, but right now there is a big, recurring, problem in Turkey and until the security situation changes I'm avoiding it. This is notable for me because I am not an alarmist, I went to Cairo last year despite everyone warning me not to, and I wouldn't hesitate to do it again now.
@Dg Obscenities aside, what don't you understand about the war Radical Islamic Fascism has declared on Western Civilization being world wide now?
Maybe you don't get out much, so let me explain. I'm pretty sure most of the folks massacred at the Fort Hood Army Base in 2009, the Boston Marathon in 2013, in the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino in 2015, the 128 people murdered in at various locations in Paris last year,...
@Dg Obscenities aside, what don't you understand about the war Radical Islamic Fascism has declared on Western Civilization being world wide now?
Maybe you don't get out much, so let me explain. I'm pretty sure most of the folks massacred at the Fort Hood Army Base in 2009, the Boston Marathon in 2013, in the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino in 2015, the 128 people murdered in at various locations in Paris last year, and now the nightclub in Orlando, thought they were totally safe from Islamist Terrorists. They were not.
Nor were the people years before on the London tube, or the Israeli Olympic athletes in Munich in 1972 for that matter. Yes, there are a few people dead at IST, but tragedy as that is, in numbers it pales compared to Orlando, not to mention the @3,000 in the WTC.
If I was flying out of IST would I get thru the outside security to airside as quickly as possible? Of course. But if I was scheduled to transit IST, as Greg said he is scheduled to do, I wouldn't worry about it any more than I usually do pretty much anywhere. ;)
@Charles - fully agree with you.
@Robert Hanson - wtf does that mean?
@A the reality is if you are relying on security at an airport to prevent anything you have failed. Security at an airport can prevent something from getting onto an aircraft, but see TSA failures online to see how effect that is. I challenge you to find a foolproof security system for an airport cause there is not one. The reality is intelligence and surveillance is the primary way to prevent terrorism. Of course it's...
@A the reality is if you are relying on security at an airport to prevent anything you have failed. Security at an airport can prevent something from getting onto an aircraft, but see TSA failures online to see how effect that is. I challenge you to find a foolproof security system for an airport cause there is not one. The reality is intelligence and surveillance is the primary way to prevent terrorism. Of course it's up to society to strike a balance between saftey and privacy. @Santastico honestly Turkey is reasonably safe. I know people will argue it's not but let's be honest. Attacks in Orlando, Paris, it doesn't matter terrorism can occur anywhere at any time. To me when we let them dictate how we live our lives is when we fail. My deepest sympathies to the victims.
I am feeling really bad after reading the news. What a crazy world we are leaving in!!! Personally, I would love to visit Turkey but don't feel safe at all to go there.
We've changed our entire package so we are now Cruising from Athens on the Seabourn Odyssey rather than flying and cruising out of Istanbul. We are still doing the cruise with stops in Turkey as well as Greece but we won't be doing any tours when the ship docks in Istanbul. Seabournes security is generally top notch so we aren't expecting any problems.
I hate to seem so morbid, but after Boston, San Bernardino, Paris, and now Orlando, you are particularly worried about IST? ;)
I'm transiting through IST in 10 days on an Aeroplan reward ticket in J. What would your recommendation be on how to proceed here.....do I sit tight or do I proactively call Aeroplan to try to move flights around?
@A unfortunately you can't protect everything. At TLV there is a vehicle checkpoint at the entry to the airport, then they screen your luggage when you enter the building and then you get screened again TSA style while headed to the gate. Someone could still attack the cars waiting at the outer vehicle checkpoint.
IST is one of those airports which still has a security point where luggage is screened as you enter the airport BEFORE check in. It always crossed my mind going thru IST before how useless this security screening was as any potential terrorists can strike right there before clearing that point. Unfortunately it seems this is what happened today! It just shows how the people responsible for security are fixated on what is predicatible and...
IST is one of those airports which still has a security point where luggage is screened as you enter the airport BEFORE check in. It always crossed my mind going thru IST before how useless this security screening was as any potential terrorists can strike right there before clearing that point. Unfortunately it seems this is what happened today! It just shows how the people responsible for security are fixated on what is predicatible and fail to capture what a terrorist is looking for and how a terrorist group may strike! Just look at those TSA lines snaking around departure halls. How easy a target is that?! Terrorists want publicity, and part of the publicity comes in the number of casualties they cause, and yet stupid security authorities just give them that by their sheer incompetence and lack of "logic".