A BOURNEMOUTH shopkeeper has spoken of his shock after discovering his brother was at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport just two hours before it was attacked by suicide bombers.

Ali Varis, 35, told the Echo he was “really worried” when he heard about what had happened at the airport in Istanbul on Tuesday night.

“My brother had been at the airport just two hours before the attack,” said Mr Varis, who works at Charminster Supermarket and Off Licence in Charminster Road.

“He text me to say they had to wait at the airport in Izmir for hours after his flight while the authorities carried out safety checks.”

Twenty-three Turkish citizens and 13 foreign nationals were among those killed, and almost 150 other people were injured, when three suicide bombers targeted the airport on Tuesday evening.

It was the latest in a series of attacks in Turkey in recent months which have scared away tourists and damaged the economy, which relies heavily on tourism.

Mr Varis said he had spoken to a couple of other Turkish people in the area who felt the same shock as him and fear for those family members who were still living in Turkey.

“I believe in democracy and I respect all religions, races and nationalities but unfortunately there are people in this world that just believe in killing,” he added.

Mr Varis moved to the UK from Turkey in 2010. He said he wanted to live in a “safe country” after a bus he was travelling on was blown up just minutes after he had gotten off.

Bournemouth University student Tijen Butler, who has family in both Turkey and Northern Cyprus, said: “Turkey has probably been hit the worse with all these bombs and it’s horrible to think about.”

Meanwhile the director of Bournemouth-based Bright School of English, Ben Morgan, said: “Language schools are having a hard time but it doesn’t affect our business because there is an acceptance that these things just happen.”

Likening the reports of suicide bombings across the world to the World War Two Blitz in terms of number, he said people just have to battle on.