AFP•GETTY•EAST2WEST Ahmed Chataev (left) is believed to have masterminded the attack

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Suicide bombers left carnage in their wake killing 42 people and injuring hundreds more after striking at Ataturk Airport on Tuesday night. Now it is claimed the man believed to have orchestrated the attack, Chechen national Ahmed Chataev, had been granted refugee status in Austria enabling him to dodge extradition to Russia where he was wanted in connection with terrorism offences.

Chataev, a Russian citizen, is understood to have joined the Islamic State (ISIS) in 2015 after fleeing to Syria. Andrey Przhezdomsky, the deputy chairman of the Russian Investigative Committee, said Chataev was responsible for training extremists who would then commit terror attacks in Russia and Europe.

Chataev lost an arm while fighting against Russia in the second Chechen war between 1999 and 2000 and Russian media reported that he had been on the superpower’s ‘most wanted’ list since 2003 for for sponsoring terrorism, recruiting extremists and membership of a terrorist group. However, that same year he was granted asylum in Austria after claiming he had been tortured in Russia and had lost his arm.

EAST2WEST Ahmed Chataev said he lost his arm after being tortured in Russia

He was subsequently arrested in Ukraine in 2010 after terrorism-related material was found on his phone. Russia formally requested his extradition but the European Court for Human Rights ordered Ukraine not to hand him over.

GETTY The attackers took a taxi at 8:45pm to the airport

AFP Three attackers walk through the airport