Gunman in Santa Claus costume kills 39 in Istanbul
ISTANBUL, Turkey (Kurdistan24) - A lone gunman wearing Santa Claus costume killed at least 39 people and injured 69 others celebrating the new year in the early hours of Sunday at a posh Istanbul nightclub on the Bosphorus in Turkey.
Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said of the killed at Reina nightclub one was a policeman and the rest were civilians including 15 foreigners and five Turkish nationals as authorities tried to determine identities of the others.
Although the media initially reported that there was possibly one or more attackers, Soylu said the gunman was alone, still was at large and being sought after by security forces.
Citing witnesses who survived, Hurriyet newspaper wrote the gunman on a shooting rampage shouted in Arabic but could not clarify what he said.
The owner of the club, Mehmet Kocarslan told the paper that the US had warned about such an attack in Turkey, and security measures were heightened in recent days accordingly.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack at the time of publishing this report, though Turkish media suggested Islamic State (IS) could be behind it given the target, an entertainment place, and recent threats by the group for Turkey's role in the fight against it.
Officials have not put the blame on any group.
Turkish media drew parallels between the Reina attack and the November 2015 Bataclan theater mass shooting in Paris that killed 89 and the June 2016 shooting in an Orlando gay club in Florida, US that saw 49 dead.
Both attacks were claimed by the IS.
The Reina attack came amid weeks-long deriding campaigns against the celebration of the often-confused Christmas and new year celebrations by conservative Islamic newspapers and non-governmental organizations.
The Presidency of Religious Affairs, Diyanet, which acts under Prime Ministry and serves only Sunni Muslims despite Turkey being a constitutionally secular state issued a sermon last Friday warning the believers about new year celebrations as "illegitimate and going against our values."
The head of the Diyanet Mehmet Gormez condemned the attack in an online press release in response to the critics, saying there was no difference between where the "inhumane massacre" took place, where be it a bazaar, a temple or an entertainment place.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a statement that the attack could not weaken the resolve of his country "in fighting terror."
Editing by Ava Homa