ISIS Claims Responsibility For Istanbul Nightclub Attack That Killed 39

Cairo: ISIS claimed responsibility on Monday for a New Year's Day mass shooting in a packed Istanbul nightclub that killed 39 people, including two Indians, in an attack carried out by a lone gunman who remains at large.

The terrorist group made the claim in a statement on one of its Telegram channels, a method it has used to claim attacks in the past. There was no immediate comment from Turkish officials.

"In continuation of the blessed operations that Islamic State (ISIS)is conducting against the protector of the cross, Turkey, a heroic soldier of the caliphate struck one of the most famous nightclubs where the Christians celebrate their apostate holiday," the statement said.

Turkey is still hunting the gunman who opened fire inside an Istanbul nightclub on New Year's night.

With the majority of those killed in Sunday's attack foreigners, families were due to reclaim the bodies of over two dozen non-Turkish nationals killed in the gun attack.

Two Indians also died in the terror attack. One of them, informed Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj, was Abis Rizvi, the son of former lawmaker Akhtar Hasan Rizvi. The other has been identified as Khushi Shah, a resident of Gujarat.

The attack, which unleashed scenes of carnage and panic among party-goers at one of Istanbul's swankiest venues, took place just 75 minutes into 2017 after a bloody year in which hundreds were killed.

Arriving by taxi at the plush Reina nightclub on the shores of the Bosphorus, the gunman produced a weapon, reportedly a Kalashnikov, and shot dead a policeman and civilian at the entrance.

Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said on Sunday that intense efforts were under way to find the gunman, and expressed hope that the suspect would be captured soon.

The attack comes as Turkish troops press a four-month incursion in Syria to oust ISIS and Kurdish terrorists from the border area.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who said the nightclub bloodbath sought to sow "chaos", was due to chair a meeting of the Turkish cabinet today at his presidential palace in Ankara.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim meanwhile denied earlier reports the attacker had worn a Santa Claus costume. 

Soylu said the gunman had arrived with a gun concealed under an overcoat but subsequently exited the venue wearing a different garment.

The foreigners who died -- most of them from Arab countries -- had come to the club to celebrate a special night in style.

They included three Lebanese nationals, two Jordanians and three Iraqis, officials in the respective countries said.

A Canadian woman and a teenage Arab Israeli woman were also among dead. Turkish press reports said at least seven Saudi nationals died but this has yet to be confirmed by Riyadh.

Speaking to Lebanese TV station LBCI, Albert Farhat recalled how the attack began. 

"Around 1:15 am, we heard Kalashnikov fire. We thought it might be people who had drunk too much and were fighting but then people started throwing themselves to the ground," he said.

The attack evoked memories of the November 2015 carnage in Paris when ISIS terrorists unleashed a gun and bombing rampage on nightspots in the French capital, killing 130 people including 90 at the Bataclan concert hall.

World leaders rushed to condemn the nightclub shooting, with Russian President Vladimir Putin saying it was "hard to imagine a crime more cynical than the killing of civilians during a New Year's celebration".

(With inputs from Reuters and AFP)