Last week, three ISIS terrorists conducted simultaneous attacks on the unsecured areas of Istanbul’s international airport. They entered the airport armed with AK rifles and suicide bomb vests. They split up, went to separate areas of the airport and began shooting and blowing up their bombs. A total of 42 people were killed and 238 more were injured.
Why should we care? We should care because the same terrorists have stated that they will perform similar attacks in the United States. We can study the tactics used in their overseas attacks and develop countermeasures before they bring them stateside. Here is a discussion of the key elements of the attack and what we all need to do in order to avoid being killed if a similar event happens here.
-Guns and Bombs- All of the terrorist attacks with the largest number of fatalities involve both guns (usually long guns) and explosives. To prepare for an active shooter requires that you also be prepared to deal with a terrorist bomber. The two groups use both methodologies simultaneously.
Most shooters don’t know enough about bombs. You must understand how terrorist bombs are detonated, how they are used, and how far away you must get to be safe. Take a bomb class. Until then read this article. Then understand about secondary devices. This type of information can truly save your life.
– Three Pronged Attack. A hallmark of Al Qaeda (and now ISIS) attacks is the three pronged attack. They are continuing the trend here with three attackers at the airport. They use multiple attackers to ensure that at least one makes it to the target if the others are interdicted by the police before arriving on site. It’s basically a back-up plan. In this case, the three attempted to enter the airport. They were stopped by police at the entrance of the building (this airport has additional metal detectors at the airport entrance). When they realized they couldn’t make it through security with their guns and bombs, one terrorist pulled out a gun and began shooting at police. That provided enough of a distraction to allow the other two terrorists to slip inside unnoticed.
The key thing to remember is if you witness one terrorist attack, you should assume that more are coming. There will always be a followup attack. Don’t hang around. Get yourself to safety. The followups may not be in the same location like these were. Police need to be aware of the three pronged strategy. If one attack occurs, the police should be deploying additional resources to protect other pre-identified targets for attack.
– Heavy clothing and large bags remain the best indicators of a potential bomber. Take a look at the photo below from this article. All three terrorists are wearing heavy coats that were wholly inappropriate for the June Mediterranean weather.
Read the Remainder at Active Response Training
Reblogged this on Rifleman III Journal.