Turkish nightclub attack suspect arrested in Istanbul

Turkish police have arrested a man accused of shooting dead 39 people in an Istanbul nightclub on New Year's Eve.

Uzbek national Abdulkadir Masharipov, 33, was discovered in the city's outlying Esenyurt district yesterday.

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"Four other people, including a man of Kyrgyz origin and three women, were detained along with Masharipov," Daily Sabah reports, with more raids planned for Tuesday.

Several news sources have reported that Masharipov's four-year-old son was also at the address.

Istanbul's governor, Vasip Sahin, told journalists Masharipov had confessed to carrying out the attack on the popular Reina club.

"The terrorist actually said that he did it," he said.

Sahin described Masharipov as a "professional terrorist" who had trained in Afghanistan. According to Turkish media reports, he arrived in Turkey with his family in early 2016 and travelled to Istanbul on 15 December, two weeks before the massacre.

"Reina was one of Istanbul's best-known clubs," BBC correspondent Mark Lown reports, and attracted visitors from around the world. Twenty-seven foreigners were among the dead.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack in the early hours of 1 January, when a gunman forced his way into the club and sprayed the dancefloor with 120 bullets.

Experts at the time said it was an unusual step from the terror group, which "has typically refrained from claiming responsibility for attacks in Turkey to create 'an environment of suspicion in Turkish politics'", political scientist Soner Cagaptay told CNN last year.

Bob Baer, a CNN intelligence and security analyst, said the move could be interpreted as tantamount to a "declaration of war on Turkey".

Istanbul shooting suspect 'is Chinese Muslim', says Turkish media

4 January

Police in Turkey believe a man suspected of killing 39 people in an Istanbul nightclub may be a member of a Chinese Muslim minority group, according to reports in Turkish media.

The Haber Turk newspaper, citing security sources, reports the suspect could be an unnamed Uighur Muslim who entered Turkey from Syria, travelling with his wife and two children to avoid attracting attention.

He also appeared to have combat experience and could have been trained in Syria, which shares a border with the country, Reuters said, quoting an unidentified security source.

The Dogan News Agency says police have detained 27 people with alleged links to the attacker, including three foreign national families. They add the gunman is believed to be around 25 years old.

Thirty-nine people died and 69 were wounded in the attacks at the exclusive Reina nightclub on New Year's Eve.

The gunman took a taxi to the venue, where he fired around 180 bullets before taking another cab away from the scene - telling the driver he had no money and asking to borrow his phone, Hurriyet Daily News reports, according to USA Today.

Islamic State has claimed responsibility.

A 44-second video of the suspected gunman, aired on Turkish state media yesterday, shows him walking around Istanbul's famous Taksim Square. It is unclear when the footage was taken or how it was obtained.

The Chinese Uighurs, who are ethnically Turkic Muslims, have their traditional home in the autonomous region of Xinjiang, which was annexed after China seized control of the short-lived state of East Turkestan in 1949. Some Uighur separatist groups want to re-establish the state's independence.

In 2015, protests and street scuffles erupted after reports claimed Chinese authorities were refusing to allow worship and fasting during Ramadan. Beijing denied the reports, but anti-Chinese sentiment over the troubles has simmered in Turkey, where many Turks see themselves as sharing religious and cultural ties with the Uighurs.

Turkey nightclub attack: Net closing in on Istanbul gunman

3 January

Turkish police say they have arrested 12 people in connection with the Istanbul nightclub attack that killed 39 people and wounded 65 in the early hours of 1 January.

However, the principle suspect, who fired 180 shots during a seven-minute rampage, remains at large, although Turkish authorities have released his photograph (above) and identified his fingerprints.

"The attacker, in his mid-twenties and of central Asian appearance, has been on the run for two days after fleeing the scene of the massacre," says The Times, which reports that most of the men arrested are from Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

Numan Kurtulmus, Turkey's deputy prime minister, said: "Wherever they may hide in 2017, we will enter their lair."

Police are "investigating whether the suspect belongs to an Islamic State cell blamed for an attack in June on Ataturk airport in Istanbul", the BBC says.

Turkish news outlet Hurriyet, citing anti-terror expert Abdullah Agar, reports the gunman was "a professional who received military training on how to use a weapon".

Agar said: "He probably fired these bullets before in real clash zones. He had no hesitation in shooting at innocent people. He is absolutely a killer and he most probably shot at humans before."

Islamic State militants have claimed responsibility, describing the Reina nightclub as a place "where Christians celebrated their polytheist holiday".

"Nearly two-thirds of those killed in the club, which is frequented by celebrities, were foreigners," says The Guardian. "Many of them were from the Middle East."

IS added that the attack was retaliation for Turkish military operations in Syria that killed Muslims in "air strikes and mortar attacks".