An unnamed Turkish official confirmed the nationalities of the attackers to Reuters news agency and they were also carried by the Dogan news agency and other Turkish media outlets. Some agencies named one of the men as Osman Vadinov, said to have crossed into Turkey from the IS stronghold of Raqqa in Syria in 2015. He is believed to be from the Russian Caucasus.
One image on Turkish media purported to show the three men together at the airport moments before the attack, wearing dark jackets and carrying holdalls. Two are wearing caps, one is smiling. The government has made no official statement on nationalities yet and no-one has said they carried out the attack on Tuesday evening.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Wednesday that "our thoughts on those responsible for the attack lean towards Islamic State".
For information, the three men who carried out Tuesday's deadly attack on Istanbul airport were of Russian, Uzbek and Kyrgyz nationality, Turkish media and officials say. Turkey believes IS was behind the suicide gun and bomb attack that left 43 people dead and more than 230 hurt. Police carried out raids on Tuesday, detaining at least 13 suspects in Istanbul and more in the city of Izmir.More details of the victims have emerged, many of them airport workers.
