A one-armed Chechen warlord has been named as the mastermind behind the Istanbul airport massacre, it has emerged.

Akhmed Chataev is said to be the brains behind the attack after three suicide bombers launched a co-ordinated assault on Ataturk Airport on Tuesday, according to Turkish media.

The Chechen warlord has risen to become an ISIS commander, with at least 130 militants at his disposal, with security sources claiming he was creating terror cells to be sent into Russia.

One-armed Chechen warlord Akhmed Chataev (pictured) has been named as the mastermind behind the Istanbul airport massacre, it has emerged

It comes as pictures emerged of the three suicide bombers - seen smiling together just moments before they carried out the deadly massacre, killing 42 and injuring hundreds

Attack: CCTV shows the moment a deadly blast went off at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul late on Tuesday

It comes as pictures emerged of the three suicide bombers - seen smiling together just moments before they carried out the deadly massacre, killing 42 and injuring hundreds.

The men - wearing heavy jackets and carrying a holdall - were caught on camera as they walked into Ataturk Airport on Tuesday evening to begin their murderous rampage through the terminals.

Security sources have claimed all three came from countries which once fell under the control of the Soviet Union, Dagestan, Kurdistan and Uzbekistan, and may have been part of ISIS' Russian-speaking terror cell.

Chataev is thought to have branched out in recent years, turning his focus towards young men from immigrant families who - crucially - hold European Union passports.

According to the United Nations Security Council, Chataev now controls 130 ISIS militants.

'There are many more such people than those who were recruited from Russia,' said a Russian source.Chataev - nicknamed 'One-Armed' after he claimed one of his limbs was chopped off in prison - fled Russia 12 years ago, and won refugee status in Austria.

Chataev - nicknamed 'One-Armed' after he claimed one of his limbs was chopped off in prison - fled Russia 12 years ago, and won refugee status in Austria

This is the first clear picture of the man Turkish media are claiming is one of the men who attacked the airport on Tuesday

A second suicide bomber can be seen here, making his way through the terminal with what appears to be a gun

One of the three terrorists that struck at Turkey's Ataturk Airport wields an AK-47 as he carries out his killing spree (left), while a man carries a wounded boy away from the airport (right)

'Having left jail in Georgia, Chataev moved to Syria and in ISIS he is in charge of the whole Russian sector of work.'

In January, Russian secret services named him as the main recruiter of terrorists from ISIS to Russia and European countries.

Chataev - nicknamed 'One-Armed' after he claimed one of his limbs was chopped off in prison - fled Russia 12 years ago, and won refugee status in Austria.

Once in Europe, he sent equipment back to the Northern Caucuses for terrorists to use, it has been reported.

In 2008, he was arrested in Sweden for illegal possession of arms, spending a year in prison after Kalashnikov guns, explosives and bullets were found in his car.

'One-Armed' insisted that he was trapped in a sting operation.

After he completed his sentence, he moved to the Ukraine, where he was arrested on a warrant from Russian police - but used his Austrian refugee status to avoid deportation.

Bodies lie on the pavement outside Istanbul's international airport after explosions and gunfire shook the terminal

People who had just arrived at the airport in Istanbul after the blasts were pictured running as they tried to flee the scene

Desperate passengers embrace as they gather in shock outside the terminal after the airport was evacuated and all flights were grounded

Twelve months after that, he was found in Georgia, in the Lopota mountain valley following a battle between police and rebels which saw three policeman and 11 rebels killed.

Chataev was injured and later detained - but said he had nothing to do with it.

Chataev is also said to have led Chechen Islamist Doku Umarov's armed underground movement of Northern Caucasus from Turkey - perfectly placing him to plan an attack like Tuesday's.

In January, Kremlin-friendly Kommersant newspaper reported that Chataev was 'training executors for acts of terror not only in Russia but also in Western Europe'.

Andrey Przhezdomsky, the advisor to the chairman of the Russian National Anti-terrorism Committee, claimed he is at the head of a special ISIS unit now in charge of arranging blasts in Russian and Europe.

An aerial view of the airport shows where the suicide bombers are believed to have detonated their explosives, close to the entrance to the international arrivals terminal

'It mainly consists of Northern Caucasus people and there are ex-officers of the Iraq army among its trainers,' he said.

The North Caucus includes Chechnya and Dagestan, where two of Tuesday's killers are said to have been born.

The claims about Chataev's role came after the detention in Turkey last year of Yakub Ibragimov and Abdulla Abdullaev.