Istanbul Nightclub Attacked on New Year’s Eve
A shooting in an Istanbul nightclub on New Year’s Eve killed at least 39 people and injured more than 69. The incident ended a year of many terrorist attacks on the country, including the attempted coup in July and the assassination of the Russian Ambassador to Turkey by a police officer.
The Reina nightclub, in the Beşiktaş district of Istanbul, held more than 600 people at the time of the attack. The shooting began at 1:15 am. The shooter changed six chargers and fired more than 180 bullets.
Reina is one of the most exclusive clubs in Istanbul, typically associated with celebrity clientele and foreigners. Victims of the shooting were from 14 countries, many of them Middle Eastern.
A manhunt is in progress to find the suspect, and authorities claim to be closing in on him after numerous raids. There originally were three suspects, but the Interior Minister of Turkey Süleyman Soylu recently said that only one person attacked and was working alone.
The suspect, Abdulgadir Masharipov, is also known by his code name, “Abu Muhammed Horasan.” Officials have released a picture of him, originally thinking he was a 28-year-old Kyrgyz national or a Chinese Uighur, a small Muslim minority in the Xinjiang province. He is now known to be an Uzbek jihadist. The shooter supposedly has Middle Eastern firearms training.
Many news sources first claimed the shooter was wearing a Santa outfit. He was, however, not the shooter, but a police officer in a Santa costume.
36 people are currently being held in relation to the shooting. ISIS has claimed responsibility via Twitter, but the Tweet has not been verified independently at this time.
American intelligence officials sent a warning roughly 10 days previous about a possible terrorist attack in Turkey over the holidays. Because of the security upgrades, 17,000 police were on the streets.
President-elect Trump has made no statement about the shooting.