Mourning:
• Gunman on the run and eight held, while Islamic State claims responsibility for shooting and blames Turkey’s role in Syrian war
A man places flowers and candles at a police barrier in front of the Reina nightclub following a gun attack at the popular venue in Istanbul on New Year’s eve. At least 39 people were killed and 65 others were wounded in the attack, local media reported.
Istanbul antiterror police on Monday detained eight people suspected of links to the New Year gun attack on a nightclub in the Turkish city that left 39 dead and was claimed by Islamic State jihadists, a report said.
The Dogan news agency said police were pressing on with operations after making the first arrests over the attack. The suspected gunman is still believed to be on the run.
The Islamic State described the Reina nightclub, where foreigners as well as Turks were killed, as a gathering point for Christians celebrating their “apostate holiday”. The attack, it said, was revenge for Turkish military involvement in Syria.
“The apostate Turkish government should know that the blood of Muslims shed with airplanes and artillery fire will, with God’s permission, ignite a fire in their own land,” the Islamic State declaration said.
There was no immediate comment from Turkish officials.
The jihadist group has been blamed for at least six attacks on civilian targets in Turkey over the past 18 months but, other than targeted assassinations, this is the first time it has directly claimed any of them. It made the statement on one of its Telegram channels, a method used after attacks elsewhere.
Turkey is part of the US-led coalition against Islamic State and launched an incursion into neighbouring Syria in August to drive radical Sunni militants from its borders, sending in tanks and special forces backed by fighter jets.
Among those killed at the exclusive nightclub on the shores of the Bosphorus waterway was a security guard who survived an attack on a soccer stadium in Istanbul on December 10.
Twenty-five of the dead in the Reina attack were foreigners, according to the staterun Anadolu news agency. They included nationals of Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Lebanon, Libya, Israel and India as well as a Turkish-Belgian dual citizen and a Franco-Tunisian woman.
Police distributed a hazy black-and-white photo of the alleged gunman taken from security footage.
State broadcaster TRT Haber said eight people had been detained in Istanbul.
The authorities believed the attacker might be from a central Asian nation and suspected he had links to Islamic State, the Hurriyet newspaper said. It said he might be from the same cell responsible for a gun-and-bomb attack on Istanbul’s main airport in June, in which 45 people were killed and hundreds wounded.
The attack at Reina, popular with Turkish celebrities and wealthy visitors, shook Turkey as it tries to recover from a failed July coup and a series of deadly bombings in Istanbul and elsewhere, some of which were blamed on Islamic State, others claimed by Kurdish militants.
About 600 people were thought to be inside when the gunman shot dead a policeman and civilian at the door, forcing his way in then opening fire with an automatic assault rifle. Witnesses said he shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is Greatest).
Some at the club jumped into the Bosphorus after the attacker began shooting at random just over an hour into the new year. Witnesses described diving under tables as he walked around spraying bullets.
RIFLE IN SUITCASE
The attacker was believed to have taken a taxi from the southern Zeytinburnu district of Istanbul and, because of the busy traffic, got out and walked the last four minutes to the entrance of the nightclub, newspaper Haberturk said.
He pulled his Kalashnikov rifle from a suitcase at the side of the road, opened fire on those at the door, then threw two hand grenades after entering, Haberturk said, without citing its sources. It said that six empty magazines were found at the scene and that he was estimated to have fired at least 180 bullets.
Security services had been on alert across Europe for new year celebrations following an attack on a Christmas market in Berlin that killed 12 people. Only days ago, an online message from a group supporting Islamic State called for attacks by “lone wolves” on “celebrations, gatherings and clubs”.
In a statement hours after the shooting, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said such attacks aimed to create chaos and destabilise the country.
Four months into its operation in Syria, the Turkish army and the rebels it backs are besieging the Islamic State-held town of al-Bab.
Erdogan has said he wants them to continue on to Raqqa, the jihadists’ Syrian stronghold.
Turkey has also been cracking down on Islamic State networks at home. In counterterrorism operations since December 26, Turkish police had detained 147 people over links to the group and formally arrested 25 of them, the interior ministry said on Monday.
Turkey has seen repeated attacks in recent weeks. On December 10, two bombs exploded outside a soccer stadium in Istanbul, killing 44 people. The bombing was claimed by Kurdish militants.
A car bomb killed at least 13 soldiers and wounded 56 when it ripped through a bus carrying off-duty military personnel in the central city of Kayseri a week later, an attack Erdogan blamed on Kurdish militants.
Islamic State’s Amaq website said the group was behind a car bomb attack that killed 11 people and wounded 100 in the city of Diyarbakir in November, but Turkish authorities denied this and said Kurdish militants carried out the attack.
The Russian ambassador to Turkey, Andrey Karlov, was shot dead as he gave a speech at a photo exhibition in Ankara on December 19. He was killed by an off-duty Turkish police officer who shouted “Don’t forget Aleppo” and “Allahu Akbar”.