Istanbul police 'arrest' New Year nightclub shooter

Monday January 16, 2017

Gunman who killed 39 people in an Istanbul nightclub has been caught, according to Turkish media reports.

A Turkish police holds pictures of the suspected gunman behind the Reina attack [Reuters]

The main suspect behind a New Year's Day attack on a popular Istanbul nightclub in which 39 people were killed has been arrested, according to Turkish media.

The alleged gunman, identified as Abdulgadir Masharipov, was captured in an apartment in Istanbul's Esenyurt district during a massive police operation late on Monday, security sources told state-run Anadolu Agency.

advertisements

Four other people, including a man of Kyrgyz origin and three women, were detained along with Masharipov.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) claimed responsibility for the attack on the Reina nightclub, saying it was revenge for Turkish military involvement in Syria.

Al Jazeera's Sinem Koseoglu, reporting from Istanbul, said dozens of people had previously been detained in connection to the attack
"W
e know that he [Masharipov] is an Uzbek citizen," Koseoglu said. "When his wife was [previously] arrested, she said she had no clue, no information, that her husband was an ISIL sympathiser."
Early on January 1, the assailant stormed the popular venue on the Bosphorus and sprayed 120 bullets at terrified partygoers celebrating the start of 2017.

Of the 39 dead, 27 were foreigners, including citizens from Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Iraq, Tunisia and Morocco.
At least 69 people were also wounded in the attack.

Home
Email

Hiiraan Online