This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/7467

Istanbul Night Club Terrorist Who Killed 39 People Uzbek Abdulgadir Masharipov Captured - Family Arrested

Attacked Orchestrated By ISIS
January 17, 2017

Turkish security forces capture Istanbul terrorist Abdulgadir Masharipov, who killed 39 people an Istanbul nightclub on New Year's Eve, captured by local security forces.

Ben Ariel, י"ח בטבת תשע"ז, 1/16/2017

Abdulgadir Masharipov, the terrorist who killed 39 people at the Reina nightclub in Istanbul on New Year's Eve, was captured by Turkish security forces on Monday evening, reports the Turkish Daily Sabah.

According to the report, the Uzbek attacker was apprehended in a friend's home in the Esenyurt district of Istanbul and was transferred to Istanbul Police Headquarters for questioning.

The Islamic State (ISIS) claimed responsibility for the attack at Reina club in which 69 people were wounded.

Among those killed in attack was 19-year-old Lian Zaher Nasser, an Israeli Arab from the city of Tira. Three other Israelis were wounded in the shooting attack.

Police had been after the terrorist since the attack on January 1. The Daily Sabah noted that security forces had previously raided a house in Istanbul's Maltepe district and detained Masharipov's wife, whose identity has been kept hidden.

Previous reports stated that his wife and his family members had been detained by police after the attack.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/223385

Report: Istanbul terrorist acted on direct orders from ISIS

Turkish media reports that gunman who killed 39 people on New Year's Eve told police he acted on direct orders from ISIS in Syria.

Ben Ariel, כ"א בטבת תשע"ז, 1/19/2017

Abdulgadir Masharipov, the terrorist who killed 39 people in Istanbul's Reina nightclub on New Year's Eve, told police he acted on direct orders from the Islamic State (ISIS) jihadist group in Syria, Reuters reported Wednesday.

Masharipov was captured by Turkish security forces on Monday evening in the Esenyurt district of Istanbul after a two-week manhunt.

According to Wednesday's report, Masharipov had initially been told to attack the area around the central Taksim square in Istanbul but later changed his target and chose the Reina nightclub instead.

He also reportedly told investigators his instructions came from Raqqa, Islamic State's de-facto capital in Syria. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack two days after it took place.

"I came to Taksim on New Year's Eve but the security measures were intense. It wasn't possible to carry out the attack," Masharipov was quoted as saying.

"I was given instructions to search for a new target in the area. I toured the (Bosphorus) shore at around 10:00 p.m. in a cab," he added. "Reina looked suitable for the attack. There didn't seem to be many security measures."

Reuters was not immediately able to verify the report which initially was published by the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet.

Meanwhile, according to the news agency, on Wednesday Turkish police raided six locations in the western province of Bursa in connection with the nightclub attack and detained 27 suspected ISIS members.

The detainees included 15 women and Uzbek, Kyrgyz and Tajik nationals. Police also seized fake IDs and passports in the raids.

Among those killed in attack was 19-year-old Lian Zaher Nasser, an Israeli Arab from the city of Tira. Three other Israelis were wounded.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/223511

Istanbul Nightclub Attacker Says He Was Directed By ISIS

ISTANBUL – An Uzbek gunman who killed 39 people in an Istanbul nightclub on New Year's Day told police he had to change target at the last minute to avoid heavy security and acted with direct orders from Islamic State in Syria, a newspaper said on Wednesday.

The gunman, named by the authorities on Tuesday as Abdulgadir Masharipov, had initially been told to attack the area around the central Taksim square and said his instructions came from Raqqa, a Syrian stronghold of Islamic State, the Hurriyet newspaper cited him as saying in police testimony.

"I was given instructions to search for a new target in the area. I toured the coast at around 10 p.m. with a cab," he said, referring to Istanbul's Bosphorus shore where the Reina nightclub is located.

"Reina looked suitable for the attack. There didn't seem to be many security measures."

Hurriyet did not say how it obtained the testimony and Reuters was not immediately able to verify the report.

Masharipov was caught in a police raid late on Monday in Esenyurt, a suburb on Istanbul's western outskirts, following a two-week manhunt. He was captured with an Iraqi man and three women from Africa, one of them from Egypt.

On Jan. 1, he shot his way into the exclusive nightclub and opened fire on New Year's revellers with an automatic rifle, throwing stun grenades to allow himself to reload and shooting the wounded on the ground.

Islamic State claimed responsibility the next day, saying the attack was revenge for Turkish military involvement in Syria. Turkish troops entered Syria last August to push Islamic State away from the border and halt Kurdish militia advances.

Like many cities around the world on New Year's Eve, Istanbul had taken additional security measures, deploying 25,000 police officers to try to thwart attacks after a year of bombings by Islamic State and Kurdish militants.

Istanbul Governor Vasip Sahin said on Tuesday that Masharipov had admitted his guilt and that his fingerprints matched those at the scene……

http://m.jpost.com/Middle-East/ISIS-Threat/Report-Istanbul-nightclub-attacker-says-was-directed-by-ISIS-478809#article=10374OUEwMjAxMTY5N0UxOENCRTBBMDk0RTU4RUFFMjc2NkM=


This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/7467