What the horror in Istanbul reveals about the fight against the Islamic State

Author:
Editorial Board

PARIS, BRUSSELS and now Istanbul: The horrific attack on Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport on Tuesday evening, which killed at least 41 people and injured hundreds more, suggested that the Islamic State’s capacity to mount major raids on strategic international targets remains robust in spite of its losses of territory and key operatives in Iraq and Syria. The self-styled caliphate prizes ambiguity about its operations in Muslim majority Turkey and did not claim responsibility for the assault by multiple gunmen wearing suicide-bombvests. But Turkish officials were right in saying it had all the hallmarks of the Islamic State’s campaign to sowchaos in the big cities of the states allied against it.

By now, governments across Europe and the Middle East are on high alert for terrorist suicide attackers, and several cells have been broken up before they could act. One disturbing aspect of the Istanbul assault is that it succeeded in spite of tight Turkish security. The attackers were spotted soon after they emerged from a taxioutside the airport; at least two were shot by security forces, and only one made it inside the international terminal. The explosives they detonated were nevertheless able to slaughter dozens of people, some of whom were waiting in security lines. That suggests airport authorities may need to reexamine procedures for screening people as they arrive.

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