Everything We Know So Far About the Nightclub Attack in Istanbul
Photo by Berk Ozkan/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
More than 100 Turks and foreign nationals welcoming the start of the new year in Istanbul were victims of a shooting spree at a popular nightclub that left 39 dead and another 69 wounded.
How did it happen?
Media reports say the attacker is believed to have taken a taxi from the Istanbul’s southern Zeytinburnu district to Reina nightclub, a popular nightclub among tourists and Turkish socialites. At the time of the incident, around 600 people were inside Reina. Upon arrival, the attacker shot dead a police officer and a civilian at the door, forcing his way into the club, where he then unleashed a fury of some 180 bullets, according to authorities, as well as throwing hand grenades.
“At first we thought some men were fighting with each other,” said a Lebanese woman who gave her name as Hadeel and who was in the club with her husband and a friend. “Then we heard the sound of the gunfire and ducked under the tables.
“We heard the guy screaming Allahu Akbar (God is Greatest), all three of us heard that … We heard his footsteps crushing the broken glass,” she told Reuters. “We got out through the kitchen, there was blood everywhere and bodies.”
Some guests, like Hadeel, hid in the club and others reportedly jumped into the Bosphorus river.
In total, 39 guests, from 14 different countries, perished with another 69 injured.
The gunmen fled the scene and is still at large. Turkish police continue to distribute photographs of the alleged perpetrator. Authorities think he may be Central Asian—from either Uzbekistan or Kyrgyzstan—with links to ISIS, and possibly part of the same cell that responsible for June’s bombing at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport.