Eight suspects were today detained by the Istanbul anti-terror police in connection with the New Year gun attack on a nightclub in the Turkish city, media reports said.
While police were pressing on with operations after making the first arrests, the suspected gunman is still believed to be on the run, Dogan news agency reported.
The Islamic State militant group today claimed the responsibility of the nightclub attack that killed 39 people, including two Indians.
A gunman killed a policeman and another man outside the Reina club in the early hours of 2017 before entering and firing at an estimated 600 people partying inside with an automatic rifle.
The mass shooting followed more than 30 violent acts over the past year in Turkey, which is a member of the NATO alliance and a partner in the U.S.-led coalition fighting against the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq.
The country endured multiple bombings in 2016, including three in Istanbul alone that authorities blamed on IS, a failed coup attempt in July and renewed conflict with Kurdish rebels in the southeast.
