ISIS claims responsibility for Istanbul club attack

“In continuation of the blessed operations that Islamic State is conducting against the protector of the cross, Turkey, a heroic soldier of the caliphate struck one of the most famous nightclubs where the Christians celebrate their apostate holiday,” a statement from the group known as Islamic State said. 

Earlier, Turkish authorities said they believed the attacker was linked to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group and may be from Central Asia, the Hurriyet daily reported. 

Hurriyet said Turkish police and intelligence had received information over the risk of a New Year’s attack by ISIS in several Turkish cities and had carried out raids and arrests throughout December in response

Without citing sources, it said that the attacker - who is still on the run - is believed to be linked to the group and may have been from Kyrgyzstan or Uzbekistan.

Investigators also consider it possible that the attacker is linked to the same cell that in June carried out a triple suicide bombing and gun attack at Istanbul's Ataturk airport blamed on ISIS that left 47 dead, it added.

In a separate article also in Hurriyet, columnist Abdulkadir Selvi wrote that Turkey received intelligence from the United States on December 30 warning of the risk of attacks by ISIS in Istanbul and Ankara on New Year's night.

However, the intelligence did not specify the location of where such an attack could take place, the article added.

Turkish authorities have so far not said who was behind the attack on the Reina nightclub just after New Year struck.

But they have launched a massive manhunt for the attacker, who is believed to have slipped away after changing his clothes.

The attack came as the Turkish army wages a four-month incursion in Syria to oust ISIS militants and Kurdish militants from the border area, suffering increasing casualties.

Istanbul, Ankara and other Turkish cities were hit by a string of attacks in 2016 blamed on Kurdish militants that left hundreds dead.