ISTANBUL // ISIL on Monday said it massacred 39 people in an attack on an upmarket nightclub in Istanbul during New Year’s Eve celebrations. The extremists said one of its “soldiers of the caliphate” had carried out the attack on the Reina nightclub, which wounded scores of others. Turkish police meanwhile detained eight people in connection with the attack but were still hunting for the gunman who disappeared amid the chaos of the bloodshed. The attack came after ISIL suffered repeated defeats on the battlefield in Syria and Iraq last year losing much of the territory it seized in 2014. In response, the extremist group has lashed out with high-casualty lone wolf attacks overseas, with Turkey, often the target. The ISIL-linked Aamaq News Agency said the gunman fired an automatic rifle and also detonated hand grenades in “in response to the orders” of ISIL leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi. The group also suggested it was in retaliation for Turkish military offensives against ISIL in Syria and Iraq. Many of the victims were visitors from Middle East countries, including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, who had decided to celebrate the New Year in Istanbul. Deputy prime minister Numan Kurtulmus on Monday said authorities had obtained the fingerprints and a basic description of the gunman and were close to identifying him, Mr Kurtulmus said. He said the attack in the early hours of 2017 was a message from extremist organisations that they intend to continue to be a “scourge” against Turkey in the new year. He also said it was intended as a response to Turkey’s “successful and determined” military operation against ISIL in Syria. He said Turkey was determined to continue fighting violent groups declaring: “Wherever they may hide in 2017, we will enter their lair ... With the will of God, with the support of our people, with all our national capacity, we will bring them to their knees and give them all the necessary response.” Earlier, Turkish media reports said the gunman was likely to be either from Uzbekistan or Kyrgyzstan. According to the Hurriyet and Karar newspapers, police had also established similarities with the high-casualty suicide bomb and gun attack at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport in June and were investigating whether the same ISIL cell could have carried out both attacks. Kyrgyzstan’s foreign ministry said it was looking into the reports. The gunman killed a policeman and another man outside the Reina club before entering and firing with an automatic rifle at an estimated 600 people partying inside. Nearly two-thirds of the dead in the upscale club, which is frequented by local celebrities, were foreigners, Turkey’s Anadolu Agency said. Anadolu reported that 38 of the 39 dead have been identified. The report said 11 of them were Turkish nationals, and one was a Turkish-Belgian dual citizen. Seven victims were from Saudi Arabia; three each were from Lebanon and Iraq; two each were from Tunisia, India, Morocco and Jordan. Kuwait, Canada, Israel, Syria and Russia each lost one citizen. Relatives of the victims and embassy personal were seen walking into an Istanbul morgue to claim the bodies. Turkey, which is a partner in the US-led coalition fighting against ISIL in Syria and Iraq, suffered multiple bombings in 2016, including three in Istanbul that authorities blamed on ISIL, a failed coup attempt in July and renewed conflict with Kurdish rebels in the south-east. ISIL claims to have cells in the country. Analysts think it was behind suicide bombings last January and March that targeted tourists on Istanbul’s iconic Istiklal Street as well as the attack at Ataturk Airport in June, which killed 45 people. Authorities have said the three suicide bombers in the airport attack were Russia, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan and there has been speculation that Akhmed Chatayev, a Chechen extremist known to be a top ISIL lieutenant, may have directed the attack. In August, Turkey sent troops and tanks into northern Syria, to clear a border area from ISIL and also curb the territorial advances of Syrian Kurdish forces in the region. The incursion followed an ISIL suicide attack on an outdoor wedding party in the city of Gaziantep, near the border with Syria, that killed more than 50 people. In December, ISIL released a video which it claimed the killing of two Turkish soldiers and urged its supporters to “conquer” Istanbul. Turkey’s jets regularly bomb the group in the northern Syrian town of Al Bab. *Associated Press
