Daesh claims Istanbul nightclub attack

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Istanbul - The attacker - who is still on the run - is believed to be linked to Daesh and may have been from Kyrgyzstan or Uzbekistan.

By AFP

Published: Mon 2 Jan 2017, 10:50 AM

Last updated: Tue 3 Jan 2017, 9:54 AM

The Daesh group has claimed responsibility for the Istanbul shooting that killed 39 people and wounded scores of others.
The Daesh-linked Aamaq News Agency said the New Year's Eve attack was carried by a "heroic soldier of the group who attacked the most famous nightclub where Christians were celebrating their pagan feast."
It said the man opened fire from an automatic rifle in "revenge for God's religion and in response to the orders" of Daesh leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi.
The group described Turkey as "the servant of the cross."
Without citing sources, Hurriyet daily said that the attacker - who is still on the run - is believed to be linked to Daesh and may have been from Kyrgyzstan or Uzbekistan.
Hurriyet said Turkish police and intelligence had received information over the risk of a New Year's attack by Daesh in several Turkish cities and had carried out raids and arrests throughout December in response.
Turkey club 'Santa terror' attack: What we know so far...

Turkey nightclub attack: What we know

At least one gunman shot dead a policeman and a civilian at the entrance to the Reina nightclub and then went on a shooting rampage inside.

* Turkey raises death toll in club attack to 39

* Daesh claims Istanbul nightclub attack

* The attackers were "speaking Arabic".

* Hundreds of New Year's revellers were in club

* Some reports suggest multiple attackers

*Around 700 people inside nightclub at time of attack

* Special Forces officers were still searching the premises.

* The attack sparked mass panic, with some diving into the Bosphorus Strait to escape the bullets.

* Rescuers were battling to salvage them from the water.

* At least 17,000 police officers were deployed in the city for the New Year festivities.

* The attacks have been blamed either on Kurdish militants or the Daesh group.

Investigators also consider it possible that the attacker is linked to the same cell that in June carried out a triple suicide bombing and gun attack at Istanbul's Ataturk airport blamed on Daesh that left 47 dead, it added.
In a separate article also in Hurriyet, columnist Abdulkadir Selvi wrote that Turkey received intelligence from the United States on December 30 warning of the risk of attacks by Daesh in Istanbul and Ankara on New Year's night.
However the intelligence did not specify the location of where such an attack could take place, the article added.
Turkish authorities have so far not said who was behind the attack on the Reina nightclub just after New Year struck.
But they have launched a massive manhunt for the attacker, who is believed to have slipped away after changing his clothes.
The attack came as the Turkish army wages a four-month incursion in Syria to oust Daesh and Kurdish militants from the border area, suffering increasing casualties.
Istanbul, Ankara and other Turkish cities were hit by a string of attacks in 2016 blamed on Kurdish militants that left hundreds dead.