Turkey Istanbul gunman captured after more than two weeks on the run

Turkish authorities captured the gunman who carried out the deadly New Year’s nightclub attack in Istanbul, with officials saying yesterday that he’s an Uzbekistan national who trained in Afghanistan.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told reporters in Ankara that the man was being questioned by police and expressed hope that the interrogation would unveil the “forces” behind the attack, which killed 39 people and was claimed by the Islamic State group.

“The vile terrorist who attacked the place of entertainment on New Year’s eve and led to the loss of so many lives has been captured,” Yildirim said.

He added: “What is important is for the suspect to be captured and for the forces behind it to be revealed.”

The premier wouldn’t provide further details on the arrest or the investigation, saying authorities would provide specifics “in time.”

Istanbul governor Vasip Sahin said that the captured nightclub attack suspect is an Uzbekistan national who trained in Afghanistan. He is believed to have entered Turkey in January 2016.

Sahin says the suspect, captured late Monday, has confessed to carrying out the massacre and that his fingerprints matched those of the attacker.

The suspect, according to Sahin, was a well-educated terrorist who speaks four languages and had clearly carried out the attack in the name of IS.

The statements come hours after police began questioning the suspect, who was identified in Turkish media reports as Abdulgadir Masharipov and was caught in a police operation at a luxury residential complex in Istanbul.

The state-run Anadolu Agency said that a man from Kyrgyzstan and three women — from Somalia, Senegal and Egypt — were also detained in the raid, while the gunman’s 4-year-old son was taken into protective custody.

IS group has claimed responsibility for the nightclub massacre, saying the attack in the first hours of Jan. 1 was in reprisal for Turkish military operations in northern Syria. The man identified as the suspect had been on the run since the attack.

Anadolu said police have also carried out raids on members of a suspected Uzbek IS cell in five Istanbul neighborhoods, and detained several people.

Authorities had set up a 1,000-person force to capture the gunman, Anadolu said.

Photographs from raids, widely published in the Turkish media, showed a bruised, black-haired man in a gray, bloodied shirt being held by his neck. NTV television said the gunman had resisted arrest.

Hundreds of people were gathered at the swanky Reina nightclub to celebrate the end of a tumultuous 2016 only to become the first victims of 2017. The gunman shot a police officer and a civilian outside the club, before storming the premises.

Most of the dead in the attack on the upscale club were foreign nationals, mainly from the Middle East.Mehmet Guzel, Istanbul, AP

Blast targeting police in the Southeast kills 4 officers

A roadside bomb in a pre-dominantly Kurdish city in southeast Turkey yesterday [Macau time] killed four policemen and wounded two others, according to the state-run news agency.

Anadolu Agency said the explosion occurred near Dicle University in the Sur district of Diyarbakir province. The report blamed the attack on militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Worker’s Party, or PKK.

The private Dogan news agency broadcast footage showing ambulances, a firetruck and security forces deployed at the scene of the blast.

The wounded were taken to Dicle University’s Medical Faculty Hospital, Anadolu reported.

The office of Diyarbakir’s governor gave the same death toll for the afternoon explosion. In a statement, it offered condolences to the families of the officers who died and said an investigation was underway to find those responsible.