President Obama called Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan Wednesday to offer condolences for the terrorist attack on Istanbul’s international airport that took the lives of at least 41 people and injured 239 more.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters traveling with Obama on Air Force One to Ottawa that Obama offered “any [U.S.] support that the Turks can benefit from as they conduct this investigation and take steps to further strengthen the security situation in that country.”
Three suicide bombers opened fire before blowing themselves up at the international airport in Istanbul Tuesday. The Islamic State has not claimed responsibility, but Turkish authorities suspect the extremist terrorist group is behind the massacre.
“Obviously, we have a range of capabilities to try to learn for ourselves what has happened,” he said. “Any information that we obtain that could be useful to the Turkish investigation, we will certainly share that information.”
Asked about what the attack means about the U.S.-led coalition fight against the Islamic State, Earnest said there has been “significant progress,” but said U.S. authorities are still worried about the group’s ability to carry out attacks.
“We’ve made important progress in Iraq and in Syria against ISIL,” Earnest said. He noted “notable progress” in Iraq recently, pointing to the recapture of Fallujah.
“This was obviously a significant gain by Iraqi forces and we obviously were pleased by that progress,” he said. “But we continue to be concerned by the ability that ISIL has to carry out these kind of terrorist attacks, not just in Iraq and Syria but in other places.”
The attack will be “on the minds of all three North American leaders” at the kick-off of Wednesday’s North American Leaders’ Summit, Earnest added.
Obama arrived in Ottawa Wednesday morning for meetings with Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexico’s President Enrique Pena Nieto that are expected to focus on clean energy and climate change.
