Turkish leaders cry conspiracy as hunt for Reina attacker continues
In a now familiar pattern, the Turkish authorities are denying any responsibility for the intelligence lapses linked to the stream of terror attacks that have shaken the country and whipping up fury against their opponents to deflect attention from Turkey’s ballooning other problems.
The hunt for the unknown assailant who shot his way though security and into the heart of one of Istanbul’s most popular nightclubs, Reina, continues amid confusion over his identity.
The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was in response to Turkish military operations against it in northern Syria. The move marks the first time the group has formally acknowledged its role in a series of suicide bombings and other lethal attacks in Turkey thought to have been conducted by the jihadis.
But the pictures circulated of the man who was originally thought to be the perpetrator proved to be of an innocent Kazakh. Today, a Kyrgyz site published an interview with a second central Asian-looking man whose picture was also circulated as the likely assailant.
The man denied all involvement with the shooting spree that left at least 39 people, many of them Arab holidaymakers, dead. At least 16 people, two of them foreign nationals, have been detained in connection with the slayings so far.
