Thirty-five people in total have been detained since an armed attack took place in an İstanbul nightclub in the early hours of New Year’s Day that killed at least 39 people and wounded 69 others.
According to the Hürriyet daily, the suspects are being kept in custody at the İstanbul Police Department and are currently undergoing interrogation.
At slightly after 1 a.m. on New Year’s Day, a man wielding a Kalashnikov rifle killed a policeman and a civilian outside the entrance to the popular Reina nightclub and blazed his way into the club, randomly shooting at some of the hundreds of revelers bringing in the new year.
Of the 25 male and 14 female victims of the slaughter, seven were Saudi Arabian, two Indian, one from Canada, one from Syria, one from Israel, two Tunisians, four Iraqis, one Lebanese and one from Belgium. Eleven were Turkish citizens.
After series of false news stories about the identity of the gunman of the attack, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said the gunman had been identified and is probably an ethnic Uighur.