Istanbul terror attack: 41 killed; airport resumes flights amid blood, shattered glass

As passengers at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport waited to board their flights Wednesday, workers picked up shattered glass and washed away blood that was barely dry. Hours earlier, three terrorists attacked the arrivals hall and a nearby parking lot with gunfire and explosives, killing 41 people. Of the 239 people injured Tuesday night, 109 remained hospitalized Wednesday, officials said.

Despite the horror and carnage, "everything's quite calm right now, which is a little surreal as opposed to the scenes we saw here last night," witness Laurence Cameron said Wednesday.

"I was in the airport this morning looking for my lost luggage," he said. "They were sweeping up debris, and someone had hung up a big Turkish flag, pretty much right at the spot where (a) bomb had gone off -- sort of an act of defiance, which was quite moving."

It's not clear what motivated the terrorists, or if they had any idea whose lives they would take. At least 14 of the 41 killed were foreign nationals.

The attack killed six Saudis and wounded 27 more, the Saudi Arabian foreign ministry said.

The other victims killed included two Iraqis, one Tunisian, one Chinese, one Iranian, one Ukrainian, one Jordanian and one person from Uzbekistan, a Turkish official said. Three of the foreigners had dual Turkish citizenship.

Who's responsible?

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. But several officials said the attacks bear the hallmarks of ISIS.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said information from security forces suggests the terror group may be responsible, but authorities are still investigating.

"The terrorists came to the airport in a taxi and then carried out their attacks," Yildirim said. "The fact that they were carrying guns added to the toll. Preliminary findings suggest all three attackers first opened fire then detonated themselves."

The early thinking among U.S. intelligence officials was that ISIS or an ISIS-inspired group was responsible, multiple U.S. officials said. One official said the attack bears the hallmarks of ISIS because of the target and the method, with a senior US official noting the way it was coordinated using weapons and explosions.