A triple suicide bombing and gun attack at Istanbul’s Ataturk airport has killed at least 41 people, including foreigners.

A triple suicide bombing and gun attack at Istanbul's Ataturk airport has killed at least 41 people, including foreigners, with Turkey's prime minister saying early signs pointed to an assault by the Takfiri ISIL group.

The attackers began spraying bullets at the international terminal entrance before blowing themselves up at around 10:00 pm (1900 GMT) Tuesday, Turkish authorities said.

It is the deadliest of four attacks to rock Turkey's biggest city this year, with two others blamed on ISIL and another claimed by a militant Kurdish group.

Though there was no immediate claim of responsibility for Tuesday's carnage, "the evidence points to Daesh", Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told journalists at the scene, using another name for the Takfiris.

The city's governor said 41 people were killed, including 13 foreigners, and 239 wounded.

The dead include several Saudis, a Chinese national, a Tunisian and a Ukrainian.

The attack prompted the suspension of all flights at the airport -- one of Europe's busiest hubs.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for an international "joint fight" against terror, as Western allies including the United States condemned the "heinous" attack.

Yildirim said the suicide bombers had arrived in a taxi and opened fire on passengers with automatic rifles before blowing themselves up.

Security camera footage widely circulated on social media appeared to capture two of the blasts. In one clip a huge ball of flame erupts at an entrance to the terminal building, scattering terrified passengers.

Another video shows a black-clad attacker running inside the building before collapsing to the ground -- apparently felled by a police bullet -- and blowing himself up.

Tuesday's attack follows coordinated ISIL suicide bombings at Brussels airport and a city metro station in March that left 32 people dead.