Feature: Istanbul's Ataturk airport recovering from deadly attacks

The Ataturk airport in Istanbul resumed business early Wednesday morning with boosted security, following hours of mess and chaos that ensued from a series of suicide bombing attacks.

Inside the arrivals section of the international terminal, the scene of the series of attacks which left at least 41 dead and 239 others injured, people are on the move everywhere and many are waiting for their relatives and friends as usual.

Two girls, beaming with pleasure at seeing each other, hugged one another again and again.

Meters away, an area of ceiling as large as 100 square meters was shaken off its decorations in the explosion, becoming a constant reminder of what a tragedy had befallen the night before.

Three suicide bombers arrived at the airport by taxi on Tuesday night and opened fire before blowing themselves up, making it the deadliest attack on the metropolis in recent memory and forcing the suspension of all flights for hours.

"Everyone is shocked over such a big terror incident," said German journalist Stephen Richter, who arrived in Istanbul on Wednesday to cover the tragedy.

Outside the terminal, the perpetrators left another two huge scars for the airport -- another two areas of receded ceiling, with one much larger than that inside.

At the security-check area, the most visible damage are three glass walls left cracked in the explosion.

Workers were working to erase the scars, not new to a metropolis that has come under a series of deadly attacks over the past year amid a deteriorating security situation in the country.

Some airport employees on the morning shift were on the scene examining the damages. Some lost their colleagues and declined to make comments.

"My children begged me not to return to Turkey," said a Turkish passenger, whose plane just landed at the airport from Frankfurt. "I told them not to worry, it could happen anywhere."

Neither he nor his family could have a sleep during the night trying to figure out what was going on, he added.

An Iranian couple, who have not seen their son Rashed for four years, greeted him with applause at the airport.

"After the last night attack, I thought I wouldn't see my son at all," said the mother. Endit