http://aa.com.tr/en/turkey/victims-of-istanbul-terror-attack-identified/718436
01.01.2017
Thirty-eight victims of the Istanbul nightclub attack have been identified, Turkish justice ministry sources said late on Sunday.
At least 39 people, including a police officer, died after an attacker opened fire on partygoers at Reina nightclub in the city’s Ortakoy district in the early hours of New Year’s Day.
Sixty-nine people were also hurt, with a number of foreigners among the dead and injured.
Eleven of the dead were Turkish nationals and one was a Turkish-Belgium dual-national, said ministry sources who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media.
Seven victims were from Saudi Arabia and had travelled to Istanbul to attend New Year’s celebrations.
Three of the dead were from Lebanon and Iraq each.
Two nationals from Tunisia, India, Morocco and Jordan also died, sources said.
Kuwait, Canada, Israel, Syria and Russia each lost one citizen in the attack.
One victim remains unidentified.
Turkish officials have not yet released the names of those identified.
*Reporting by Mehmet Tosun and Kemal Karadag; Writing by Ayse Humeyra Atilgan
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http://aa.com.tr/en/todays-headlines/police-carry-out-arrests-over-istanbul-nightclub-attack/718872
Police in Istanbul arrested eight suspects on Monday in connection with the nightclub attack that killed 39 people, a security official said.
The gun attack at the Reina club in the city’s Ortakoy district early Sunday left a further 69 wounded.
The suspects were arrested by anti-terror police from Istanbul, the official said on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media.
The gunman, who was not among those arrested, killed a police officer and civilian outside the venue on the European shore of the Bosphorus before entering and opening fire on New Year’s Eve revelers.
At least 27 of the fatalities were foreigners and 11 were Turkish nationals. A further victim is yet to be identified, according to a Justice Ministry official.
Meanwhile, investigators released a fresh image on the attacker. The image from a security camera showed a slim young man wearing a dark jacket apparently standing at a shop counter.
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William Jacop Rakk speaks to press during being accompanied by hotel staff of which he was staying, to his plane back to U.S. on January 2, 2017 at Ataturk International Airport in Istanbul, Turkey. William Jacop Rakk is an US citizen who was wounded during a terrorist attack at a nightclub in Ortakoy district of Besiktas in Istanbul. (Islam Yakut - Anadolu Agency)
At least 39 people, including a police officer and a number of foreigners, died after an attacker opened fire on party-goers at a nightclub in the city’s Ortakoy district in the early hours of New Year’s Day.
Speaking to reporters at Istanbul’s Ataturk International Airport on Monday ahead of his flight to the U.S., William Jacob Rakk said he was with nine friends in the nightclub at the time of the attack.
He said he wants to visit Turkey again and wished a speedy recovery for those who injured in the attack.
Rakk also praised Turkey as a very beautiful country with good people.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/re...rts-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=108033&NewsCatID=509
“He probably fired these bullets before in real clash zones. He had no hesitation in shooting at innocent people. He is absolutely a killer and he most probably shot at humans before,” Ağar added.
Police have released the first footage of the Reina attacker, who killed 39 people and wounded 65 others,
with initial police reports suggesting he may be from Uzbekistan or Kyrgyzstan. Officials are also investigating the possibility that the attacker may be from Xinjiang in eastern China and aged around 25, according to a report in daily Habertürk.