Suspect in club attack in Turkey still at large

Canadian citizen reportedly among those killed in what authorities are calling a terror attack

ISTANBUL (AP) — A manhunt stretched on in Turkey Sunday for an assailant who unleashed a salvo of bullets in front of and inside a crowded Istanbul nightclub during New Year’s celebrations, killing at least 39 people before fleeing.

Foreigners accounted for 24, or nearly twothirds of the attack’s victims, Turkey’s staterun Anadolu news agency reported. Many were from the Middle East, including Jordan, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, although countries from India to Belgium reported their citizens among the casualties.

The state-run agency is reporting that a Canadian was among those killed. Anadolu attributes the information to Turkish justice ministry sources.

Close to 70 others were injured in what authorities described as a terror attack. Three of the wounded were in critical condition, Turkey’s prime minister said.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vehemently condemned “the terror attack in Istanbul’s Ortakoy neighbourhood in the first hours of 2017” and offered condolences for those who lost their lives, including “foreign guests.”

The attacker, armed with a long-barrelled weapon, killed a policeman and a civilian outside the popular Reina club at around 1:15 a.m. before entering and firing on people partying inside, Gov. Vasip Sahin said.

“Unfortunately, (he) rained bullets in a very cruel and merciless way on innocent people who were there to celebrate New Year’s and have fun,” Sahin told reporters.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack and authorities did not name any suspects. The bloodiest attacks that Turkey endured in 2016 were the work of the Islamic State group or Kurdish militants.

Turkey is a member of NATO and a partner in the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State group. The country is also facing renewed conflict with Kurdish rebels in the southeast, and across the border in Syria and Iraq.

Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said a suspect has not been identified and that the gunman remains at large. Soylu, describing the attack as a “massacre, a truly inhumane savagery,” said three or four of the Turkish victims may have been employees at the nightclub.

“Our security forces have started the necessary operations. God willing, he will be caught in a short period of time,” Soylu said.

The Associated Press Medics and security officials work at the scene after an attack at a popular nightclub in Istanbul, early on Sunday. An armed man has opened fire at a nightclub in Istanbul during New Year's celebrations, killing 39 people before fleeing.