The gunman who killed 39 people at an
Istanbul nightclub had fought in Syria for
Islamic State jihadists, a report said on
Tuesday, as Turkish authorities intensified
their hunt for the attacker.
Police released pictures of the suspect who went
on the rampage at the plush Reina nightclub on
New Year's night, spraying some 120 bullets at
terrified guests before slipping away into the
night.
Of the 39 dead, 27 were foreigners, mainly from
Arab countries, with coffins repatriated overnight
to countries including Lebanon and Saudi Arabia.
The Islamic State group on Monday claimed the
massacre, the first time it has clearly stated
being behind a major attack in Turkey.
The government said Monday that eight people
had been detained but media reports said the
number had increased to 12 after new detentions
in the Anatolian city of Konya.
The Dogan news agency said they included a
woman suspected of being his wife but gave no
further details.
'Specially selected'
The Hurriyet daily said the attacker showed
signs of being well trained in the use of arms
and had fought in Syria for IS jihadists.
Hurriyet's well-connected columnist Abdulkadir
Selvi said the attacker had been identified, with
investigators focusing on the idea he was from
Central Asia.
Selvi said he had been trained in street fighting
in residential areas in Syria and used these
techniques in the attack, shooting from the hip
rather than as a sniper.
The attacker had been "specially selected" to
carry out the shooting, he said. According to
Hurriyet, just 28 bullets failed to hit a target.
Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said on
Monday that the authorities had obtained
fingerprint data about the gunman and expressed
hope he would be "speedily" identified.
Selvi wrote that the priority now was to detain
the assailant and neutralise the cell that
apparently backed him, in order to prevent any
new attack.
"This specially trained terrorist has still not
been detained and is still wandering
dangerously amongst us," he wrote.
He said that an IS strike was also planned in
Ankara on New Year's night but that it had been
prevented after eight IS suspects were arrested
in the capital. There were no further details.
'Taksim selfie video'
Police meanwhile released the first clear images
of the attacker, including one taken by security
cameras on the night of the attack.
Meanwhile a chilling video of the suspect taken
near Taksim Square in central Istanbul was
released, showing him recording himself with a
selfie stick and smiling faintly into the camera.
It was not made immediately clear how the
footage had been obtained.
Media reports have said the gunman may be
from the Central Asian states of Kyrgyzstan or
Uzbekistan.
In a statement circulated on social media, the
jihadist group said one of the "soldiers of the
caliphate" had carried out the Reina shooting.
It accused Turkey, a majority-Muslim country, of
being a servant of Christians and the attack was
in response to Turkey's military intervention
against the jihadists in war-ravaged Syria.
Turkish troops are pressing on with a four-month
incursion to oust IS jihadists the border area
while Turkey is also spearheading a ceasefire
plan with Russia to form a basis for peace talks
on Syria.
The shooting took place just 75 minutes into
2017 after a bloody year in Turkey in which
hundreds of people were killed in violence blamed
on both IS jihadists and Kurdish militants.
After a cabinet meeting in Ankara chaired by
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the government
vowed that the operation in Syria, dubbed
Euphrates Shield, would continue with
"determination".
The foreigners who died -- most of them from
Arab countries and including Muslims -- had
come to the club to celebrate a special night in
style.
They included three Lebanese nationals, two
Jordanians and three Iraqis, as well as several
Saudis.
The attack evoked memories of the November
2015 carnage in Paris when IS jihadists
unleashed a gun and bombing rampage on
nightspots in the French capital, killing 130
people including 90 at the Bataclan concert hall
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