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Turkey arrests eight over nightclub attack as Isis claims responsibility

ISTANBUL. — Turkish police have arrested eight people in connection with the gun attack on an Istanbul nightclub that killed 39 people on New Year’s Eve, as Islamic State claimed responsibility for the atrocity.

The gunman, who escaped after the attack and who is believed to be from Uzbekistan or Kyrgyzstan, was not among the eight detained by anti-terrorism squads, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.

The Turkish military said it had carried out raids against Isis in Syria in response to the attack. Turkish jets struck eight targets, and tanks and artillery fired on 103 targets near al-Bab, killing 22 fighters, the Turkish chief of general staff’s office told Anadolu.

The attack on the Reina nightclub in Turkey’s largest city on Saturday night killed party-goers from 12 different countries. The gunman killed a police officer and another person to enter the club and reportedly fired 180 bullets during the seven-minute attack.

An Isis statement said the gunman had “struck one of the most famous nightclubs where the Christians celebrate their apostate holiday” and described Turkey as a “protector of the cross”.

Turkish media reports said police had established similarities with a suicide bomb and gun attack at Istanbul’s Atatürk airport in June and were investigating whether the same Isis cell could have carried out both atrocities.

Turkey’s interior ministry said that 147 people had been detained in the past week over suspected ties to Isis and 25 had been put under formal arrest.

Witnesses to the nightclub attack described scenes of chaos as revellers attempted to flee. Some threw themselves into the waters of the Bosphorus to escape the gunfire.

Nearly two-thirds of the dead at the club, which is frequented by celebrities, were foreigners. Anadolu, citing unidentified Turkish justice ministry officials, said 38 had been identified.

It said 11 of those killed were Turkish nationals and one was a Turkish-Belgian dual citizen. Seven victims were from Saudi Arabia; there were three each from Lebanon and Iraq; two each from Tunisia, India, Morocco and Jordan and one each from Kuwait, Canada, Israel, Syria and Russia. — AFP.