Istanbul airport blast caused by mortar attack: prosecutors

Istanbul: A mortar attack was the cause of a deadly incident on December 23 at Istanbul's Sabiha Gokcen airport that left one person dead and damaged several planes, Turkish prosecutors said on Thursday.

Four mortar shells were fired from a forested area around two kilometres (1.25 miles) from the airport, prosecutors said in a statement carried by the Anatolia news agency.

A Kurdish group had claimed the blast but this was the first official statement confirming an attack.