People carry a coffin covered with a Turkish national flag of suicide attack victim Hamidullah Safar Thursday in Istanbul during his funeral two days after an attack targeted Istanbul's airport, killing at least 43 people. Turkish police rounded up 13 suspected IS jihadists in raids across Istanbul Thursday. Photo: AFP

Turkey detained 13 suspected Islamic State group (IS) jihadists on Thursday over the deadly Istanbul airport attack, as chilling details emerged of how suicide bombers launched their assault.

The death toll from Tuesday's gun and suicide bomb spree at Ataturk Airport has risen to 43, Ankara's interior minister said, with 19 foreigners among the dead and more than 200 people injured.

Authorities have identified the bombers as a Russian, an Uzbek and a Kyrgyz national.

Police carried out more than a dozen raids across Istanbul early on Thursday, arresting 13 people, including four foreigners, Interior Minister Efkan Ala said.

Turkey has been plunged into mourning over the carnage at Ataturk Airport, the deadliest of several attacks to strike Turkey's biggest city this year.

The country has suffered a string of deadly attacks blamed on either IS or Kurdish rebels, and the airport attack comes just at the start of the crucial summer tourist season.

Ala told reporters late on Wednesday that there was an ongoing "serious and comprehensive investigation" into who was behind the attack. "First signs point to Daesh, but it's not certain yet," he said, using an alternate name for IS.

CIA director John Brennan said the attack, which has sparked international condemnation, bore the "hallmark" of the jihadist group.

Details are emerging of how the attackers arrived at Turkey's busiest airport by taxi before indiscriminately firing at passengers with automatic rifles and detonating suicide bombs.

"The terrorists failed to pass through the regular security system, scanners and police controls," Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Wednesday.