The New Year’s Eve attack on a crowded Istanbul nightclub killed dozens of revelers when a gunman fired on police before storming the Reina nightclub. Turkish authorities — who arrested the suspected gunman on Monday afternoon — were quick to label this as an act of terrorism yet now believe something equally sinister, but much more complex, could also be behind the attacks.
Police quickly arrested several people (the number has since grown to 35) who are suspected of orchestrating or assisting the plotted attack. ISIS soon claimed responsibility while labeling the act as revenge for Turkish military intervention in the Syrian civil war. However, Reuters reports a new twist from the Turkish government, which now suspects that the attack was part of a complex intelligence operation:
The mass shooting at an Istanbul nightclub on New Year’s Eve was carried out professionally with the involvement of an intelligence organization, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said on Monday.
“It appears the Reina attack is not just a terrorist organization’s act, but there was also an intelligence organization involved. It was an extremely planned and organized act,” Kurtulmus said during an interview with broadcaster A Haber.
NBC News adds word from Omer Celik, Turkey’s European Union affairs minister, who assessed the attack as an “extremely professional” one “that evaded that avoid all modern intelligence techniques,” so as to facilitate the appearance that the gunman was acting as a lone wolf. Celik also believes the gunman received training “in the Middle East.”
The suspected gunman was still at large until Monday afternoon when Turkish authorities took him into custody. Police haven’t released his name, but this chilling selfie footage likely helped lead police to his arrest.
(Via Reuters, CNN & New York Times)