Investigators trying to identify culprits behind Istanbul airport attack

Passengers leave Turkey's Ataturk Airport after deadly blasts Tuesday.
(Image credit: Gokhan Tan/Getty Images)

No group has taken responsibility yet for the deadly blasts Tuesday at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport that killed at least 36 people.

U.S. officials told The Daily Beast they have no intelligence identifying the culprits, and the main suspects are the Islamic State and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a militant group seeking independence for Kurds in Turkey. The PKK does not usually target citizens in its attacks, and the officials said they privately believe ISIS is likely behind the coordinated attacks; while they are suspected in several bombings across Turkey, they have never claimed responsibility for a bombing inside the country.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.