Spotlight: IS blamed for Istanbul airport attack, Turkey faces severe anti-terrorism challenge

Turkey is facing severe challenges in fighting terrorism after an attack on its busiest airport was added to the list of the recent frequent terror attacks in the country.

The attack was allegedly launched by the Islamic State (IS), and killed 36 people and wounded nearly 150 others.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told reporters that there are signs indicating that Tuesday night's attack on Istanbul's Ataturk Airport was carried out by the IS, but efforts to identify the attackers are still underway.

Three suicide bombers had arrived at the airport by taxi and opened fire before blowing themselves up, said the prime minister. Foreign nationals were among the dead, he said.

The prime minister ordered the formation of a crisis desk and vowed to fight terrorism with "unity and solidarity."

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged continued battle "against all terrorist organizations at all costs until the end of terrorism."

Following the attacks, all flights at the airport were suspended, and entrances and exits were sealed, reports said. But the flights will resume soon, according to the police.

The security situation in Turkey has deteriorated over the past year. A number of bomb attacks have hit Istanbul, the Turkish capital of Ankara and other cities.

This year, the IS claimed it carried out a suicide bomb attack in Istanbul on March 19 that killed five people including the suicide bomber and a bomb attack in Istanbul on Jan. 12 that killed 10 people including nine Germans.

The Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK), a Kurdish militant group linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), has also been responsible for a series of attacks.

The previous attack that hit Istanbul occurred on June 7, in which a car bomb targeted a riot police shuttle bus, killing 11 people. The TAK said it carried out the bombing.

The TAK also claimed responsibility for a car bomb on March 13 and an attack on a military van on Feb. 17, which killed 34 and 29 people, respectively.

The frequent attacks in Turkey which were carried out by not only foreign terrorists but also domestic militants showed that Ankara may have underestimated the severeness and complexity of counter-terrorism.

Located in the Eurasian continent near turbulent countries like Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Israel, Turkey has been hard hit by terrorism.

Media reports said that since the IS emerged in northern Iraq and Syria, regions along Turkey's border, Turkey has become a "transfer station" for foreign extremists from different parts of the world, who went to Iraq and Syria to join the group.

Turkey is also one of the main tunnels through which the IS smuggles oil to obtain an immense amount of funds to continue terror activities, according to the reports.

Since last year, especially after a series of terror attacks occurred on its soil, Turkey has enhanced its fight against terrorists.

Turkish media reported that the country arrested a total of 961 IS members from 57 countries and regions.

Turkish Interior Minister Efkan Ala said his country had prevented 36,000 people suspected of being IS extremists from entering Turkey.

Experts say that these measures may trigger the revenge from terrorist organizations.

Furthermore, the Kurdish separatist forces in Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria, which have been greatly weakened by the Turkish government, have aroused Ankara's attention as the Middle East has descended into chaos once again.

Turkey has launched military attacks on Kurdish militants to prevent the expansion of the anti-government forces in northern Syria and Iraq. But the action has drawn strong condemnation from Syria, Iraq and Russia as well as other countries. Endi