ISTANBUL—The ISIS Terrorist group on Monday claimed responsibility for the New Year’s attack at a popular Istanbul nightclub that killed 39 people and wounded scores of others.
The ISIS-linked Aamaq News Agency said the attack was carried by a “heroic soldier of the caliphate who attacked the most famous nightclub where Christians were celebrating their pagan feast.”
It said the man opened fire from an automatic rifle and also detonated hand grenades in “revenge for God’s religion and in response to the orders” of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
The group described Turkey as “the servant of the cross” and also suggested it was in retaliation for Turkish military offensives against the ISIS terrorist group in Syria and Iraq.
“We let infidel Turkey know that the blood of Muslims that ISIS being shed by its airstrikes and artillery shelling will turn into fire on its territories,” the statement said.
Earlier, Turkish media reports had said that Turkish authorities believed the ISIS group was behind the attack and that the gunman, who is still at large, comes from a Central Asian nation and is likely to be either from Uzbekistan or Kyrgyzstan.
According to Hurriyet and Karar newspapers, police had also established similarities with the high-casualty suicide bomb and gun attack at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport in June and was investigating whether the same ISIS cell could have carried out both attacks.
