Turkey: Istanbul nightclub attacker confessed his guilt
ISTANBU— The accused perpetrator of a New Year’s nightclub attack in Istanbul has confessed and his fingerprints are a match, Turkish authorities said Tuesday. They identified him as an Uzbek national who trained in Afghanistan and staged the attack for the Islamic State group.
The gunman shot a policeman and a civilian outside the Reina night club before entering the swanky building on the banks of the Bosporus and unleashing a hail of bullets on hundreds of people gathered to celebrate the end of 2016.
A total of 39 people lost their lives and dozens others were wounded. Most of the victims came from the Middle East.
The suspect, who switched clothes during the attack, fled the scene by blending into the crowd of survivors. He succeeded in evading police for more than took weeks, reportedly collecting his son in a working class neighborhood of Istanbul before hiding out in a luxury apartment at another low-income district.
Photographs widely published in the Turkish media showed a bruised, blackhaired man in a gray, bloodied shirt being held by his neck. NTV television said the gunman had resisted arrest.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim announced on Tuesday that “the vile terrorist” who attacked the nightclub had been captured. Speaking to reporters in Ankara, he said the “forces behind (the attack) would be revealed in time.”
Moments later, in separate remarks, Istanbul governor Vasip Sahin, gave a full portrait of the suspected killer and the efforts that went into securing his capture.
Sahin named the alleged killer as Abdulkadir Masharipov, an Uzbek national who was born in 1983 and also operated under the alias Ebu Muhammed Horasani. Turkish media have reported the suspect’s first name as Abdulgadir.
Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency said Masharipov traveled to Afghanistan from his home country six years ago and claimed he was on a wanted list in Uzbekistan for membership in a terror group.
The suspect, according to the governor of Istanbul, had trained in Afghanistan and was believed to have entered Turkey in January 2016. He described him as a highly educated terrorist who speaks four languages and had clearly carried out the attack in the name of IS.
Masharipov, who was taken into custody late Monday, confessed to carrying out the massacre and his fingerprints matched those of the attacker, Gov. Sahin said.
He can be held for up to 30 days under Turkey’s state of emergency, which was introduced after a failed coup attempt in July, before he is charged and formally arrested. It could take prosecutors several months to prepare for a trial.
The police operation to apprehend Masharipov drew on a review of 7,200 hours of security camera footage and about 2,200 tipoffs from the public. Police searched 152 addresses and 50 people were taken into custody.
Authorities seized nearly $200,000, two guns and two drones during the suspect’s arrest.
“Together with the terrorist, an Iraqi man was detained as well as three women from various countries—from Egypt and from Africa,” Sahin said. “There is a high chance that they may be connected (to IS) because they were staying in the same house.”
The governor said it was believed that they arrived three days earlier at Esenyurt, a low-income neighborhood of Istanbul that has witnessed a construction boom.
AP reporters visited the suspect’s apartment on Tuesday, finding doors with broken locks, food and garbage on the floor and clothes outside of the closets. They also saw a woman’s purse and money of various currencies including Egyptian and Sudanese pounds.