Intelligence organization involved in Reina attack: Deputy PM

ISTANBUL

AFP photo

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 Kurtulmuş said Jan. 16.

“It appears the Reina attack was not just a terrorist organization’s act, but there was also an intelligence organization involved. It was an extremely planned and organized act,” Kurtulmuş said during an interview.

Meanwhile, Istanbul police found 150,000 dollars in a raid at an address in the Silivri district of Istanbul. Police suspect that the money was the amount to be given to the assailant of the Reina attack, daily Hürriyet reported.

Police reportedly determined a house in Silivri which was used by the suspected attacker in the Reina attack, Ebu Muhammed Horasani, the code name of Uzbek Islamic State Iraq and Levant (ISIL) militant Abdulgadir Masharipov, according to suspects’ testimony.

Police raided the address and found 150,000 dollars in the house on Jan. 15.

Police also claimed the money was the amount to be given to Masharipov, who was allegedly unable to obtain the money due to the intense police hunt.

Security forces said the attacker conducted the attack for money, not ideological reasons. 

Meanwhile, police reportedly revealed the connections of 20 suspects who were detained in the Aegean province of İzmir with alleged links to the Reina attacker, one of whom was the Istanbul leader of ISIL.

Police have focused on the possibility that the Reina attacker and ISIL’s regional leader could be in the same cell after the investigation of phone conversations.   

The testimonies of suspects who were detained in İzmir have also raised suspicions.

İzmir police said one of the suspects repeatedly insisted he was Syrian even though he was heard to be speaking with a Moroccan accent.

Turkish intelligent units also contacted authorities in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Dagestan, Xinjiang, Morocco and some European countries regarding Masharipov.