Top suspect in New Year's Eve massacre caught in Istanbul
The manhunt is over for the prime suspect in the New Year's Eve Istanbul nightclub shooting, and Abdulgadir Masharipov has reportedly confessed to the murders.
After a grueling two-week manhunt, Turkish police have captured the prime suspect in the mass shooting at an Istanbul nightclub on New Year’s Eve, officials announced on Tuesday.
Istanbul Governor Vasip Sahin named the man as Abdulgadir Masharipov, 33, who is said to have been born in Uzbekistan and received training in Afghanistan.
Masharipov confessed to killing 39 revelers at the Reina club, said Sahin, adding that it was clear the man had acted on behalf of the Islamic State. The jihadi group had claimed responsibility a day after the bloodbath, saying it was revenge for Turkey’s ongoing military campaign against IS in Syria.
The governor told a news conference that Masharipov was thought to have entered Turkey illegally through its “eastern” borders, though he did not specify which of Turkey’s eastern neighbors — Georgia, Azerbaijan, Iraq and Iran — the man had likely traveled from. The mass circulation daily Hurriyet pointed to Iran.
