Nightclub carnage as 39 shot dead
Print Edition
A GUNMAN opened fire on New Year revellers in a packed nightclub on the shores of Istanbul’s Bosphorus waterway yesterday, killing at least 39 people, including many foreigners, then fled the scene.
Some people jumped into the Bosphorus to save themselves after the attacker opened fire at random in the Reina nightclub just over an hour into the new year. Officials spoke of a single attacker but some reports suggested there may have been more.
The attack shook NATO member Turkey as it tries to recover from a failed July coup and a series of deadly bombings in cities including Istanbul and the capital Ankara, some blamed on Islamic State and others claimed by Kurdish militants.
Security services had been on alert across Europe for New Year celebrations following an attack on a Christmas market in Berlin that killed 12 people. Just days ago, an online message from a pro-Islamic State group called for attacks by “lone wolves” on “celebrations, gatherings and clubs.”
The Hurriyet newspaper cited witnesses as saying the attackers shouted in Arabic as they opened fire in the club.
“We were having fun. All of a sudden people started to run. My husband said don’t be afraid, and he jumped on me. People ran over me. My husband was hit in three places,” club-goer Sinem Uyanik said.
“I managed to push through and get out, it was terrible,” she said, describing seeing people soaked in blood.
The incident bore echoes of an attack by militant Islamists on Paris’ Bataclan music hall in November 2015 that, along with assaults on bars and restaurants, killed 130 people.
Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said 15 or 16 of those killed at Reina were foreigners but only 21 bodies had so far been identified. He told reporters 69 people were in hospital, four of them in a critical condition.
“A manhunt for the terrorist is under way,” he said.
The victims included at least five Saudi citizens and two from Lebanon. Other foreigners killed were from Morocco, Libya, Israel and Belgium. France said three of its citizens were wounded.
Turkey is part of the US-led coalition against Islamic State and launched an incursion into Syria in August to drive radical Sunni militants from its borders. It also helped broker a fragile cease-fire in Syria with Russia.
“As a nation, we will fight to the end against not just the armed attacks of terror groups, but also against their economic, political and social attacks,” President Tayyip Erdogan said. “They are trying to create chaos, demoralize our people, and destabilize our country... We will retain our cool-headedness as a nation, standing more closely together, and we will never give ground to such dirty games,” he said.
The Reina club is one of Istanbul’s best-known nightspots. Some 600 people were thought to have been inside when the gunman shot dead a policeman and civilian at the door, forced his way in and then opened fire.
Istanbul Governor Vasip Sahin said the attacker used a “long-range weapon” to “brutally and savagely” fire on people, apparently referring to an assault rifle.
Dozens of ambulances and police vehicles were dispatched to the club in Ortakoy, a neighborhood on the city’s European side nestled under one of three bridges crossing the Bosphorus and home to nightclubs, restaurants and art galleries.
“I didn’t see who was shooting but heard the gunshots and people fled. Police moved in quickly,” Sefa Boydas, a Turkish soccer player, wrote on Twitter. “My girlfriend was wearing high heels. I lifted her and carried her out on my back,” he said.
Hurriyet quoted Reina’s owner, Mehmet Kocarslan, as saying security measures had been taken over the past 10 days after US intelligence suggested a possible attack.
A month ago, a spokesman for Islamic State urged supporters to target “the secular, apostate Turkish government.”
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