Homeland Security News

A gun and bomb attack on Istanbul's Ataturk international airport has killed 36 people and injured more than 140 others, officials say.  Three attackers arrived in a taxi and began firing at the terminal entrance late on Tuesday. They blew themselves up after police fired back.  PM Binali Yildirim said early signs pointed to so-called Islamic State but no-one has so far admitted the attack.  Recent bombings have been linked to either IS or Kurdish separatists.

Tuesday's attack looked like a major co-ordinated assault, says the BBC's Mark Lowen.  Ataturk airport has long been seen as a vulnerable target, our Turkey correspondent adds, reporting from a plane stuck on the tarmac in Istanbul.

There are X-ray scanners at the entrance to the terminal but security checks for cars are limited.

Read more:  BBC News

At least two explosions rocked Istanbul, Turkey's international airport Tuesday night, killing at least 10 people and wounding dozens more, officials said.

Authorities and witnesses said terrorists opened fire at the entrance of the international arrivals area at Ataturk International Airport before explosives were detonated.

Deputy of Istanbul Eren Erdem said on Twitter that 10 people were dead and at least 20 were injured. The Associated Press reported that 28 people were killed and 60 were injured, according to Istanbul Gov. Vasip Sahin. The death toll could not be immediately confirmed by NBC News.

Read more: NBC News

The German government voiced concern on Tuesday that Islamic State could step up attacks in Europe as it loses territory in Iraq and Syria, and said its domestic intelligence agency is training to respond to a large-scale assault.

Interior Minister Thomas De Maiziere welcomed gains made by a U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria, but said they were not diminishing the risk of attacks in Europe.

"On the contrary, we fear that Islamic State will externalise, transfer its activities to Europe, especially because of military losses in the region," the minister, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic party, told reporters.

Germany has been on high alert for possible large-scale militant incidents - potentially including military-style weapons - since the IS attacks in Paris last November and Brussels in March, Hans-Georg Maassen, the head of the BfV domestic intelligence agency, told the same news conference.

Read more: Reuters

If Zika, political instability and contaminated water weren’t enough, U.S. intelligence officials are warning Americans traveling to the August Olympic Games in Rio and other destinations abroad that proprietary information stored on electronic devices is at high risk for theft by spies and cyber criminals who are increasingly targeting global events as troughs rich in valuable intelligence.

Bill Evanina, the nation’s chief counter-intelligence executive, is urging travelers to carry “clean’’ devices, free of potentially valuable archives that could be tapped for economic advantage, personal data or security information.

Just as the Olympics draw the world’s most talented athletes, Evanina said the games and other international events represent a "great playground’’ for government intelligence services and criminals, if only because of the “sheer number of devices.’’

Read more:  USA Today

The Lebanese government warned on Tuesday of a heightened terrorist threat after eight suicide bombers targeted a Christian village at the border with Syria, the latest spillover of its conflict into Lebanon.

The village of Qaa was targeted on Monday in two waves of suicide attacks that killed five people. The first group of bombers attacked before dawn and the second later at night, two of them blowing themselves up near a church.

Security officials believe Islamic State militants were behind the attack. There has been no claim of responsibility.

In reference to the number of attackers, the Lebanese government said the attack and the "unfamiliar way" it was carried out represented a new phase of "confrontation between the Lebanese state and evil terrorism".

Read more:  Reuters