Police in Istanbul have launched a manhunt for a gunman who killed at least 39 people, many of them foreigners, at a nightclub packed with New Year's revellers, in an attack officials described as a terrorist act.
The gunman shot his way into the Reina nightclub at around 1:15am local time (10.15pm Irish time), just over an hour into the new year, killing a police officer and a civilian as he entered before opening fire at random inside.
Some people jumped into the Bosphorus river to save themselves and were rescued by police. Witnesses described diving under tables as the assailant walked around spraying bullets from an automatic rifle.
The attack shook NATO member Turkey as it tries to recover from a failed July coup and a series of deadly bombings in cities including Istanbul and the capital Ankara, some blamed on the so-called Islamic State and others claimed by Kurdish militants.
Security services had been on alert across Europe for New Year celebrations following an attack on a Christmas market in Berlin that killed 12 people.
Only days ago, an online message from a pro-Islamic State group called for attacks by "lone wolves" on "celebrations, gatherings and clubs".
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"At first we thought some men were fighting with each other," said a Lebanese woman who gave her name as Hadeel and who was in the club with her husband and a friend. "Then we heard the sound of the gunfire and ducked under the tables.
"We heard the guy screaming Allahu Akbar (God is Greatest),all three of us heard that ... We heard his footsteps crushing the broken glass," she said. "We got out through the kitchen, there was blood everywhere and bodies."
Nationals of Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Lebanon, Libya, Israel, a Turkish-Belgian dual citizen and a Franco-Tunisian woman were among those killed, officials said. Saudi newspaper al-Riyadh said five of the dead were from Saudi Arabia.
A massive security operation unfolded to track down the fugitive assailant or assailants and any conspirators.
Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said 15 or 16 of those killed at Reina were foreigners but only 21 bodies had so far been identified. He told reporters 69 people were in hospital, four of them in a critical condition.
Turkey is part of the US-led coalition against IS and launched an incursion into Syria in August to drive the radical Sunni militants from its borders. It also helped broker a fragile ceasefire in Syria with Russia.
"As a nation, we will fight to the end against not just the armed attacks of terror groups, but also against their economic, political and social attacks," President Tayyip Erdogan said in a written statement.
"They are trying to create chaos, demoralise our people, and destabilise our country ... We will retain our cool-headedness as a nation, standing more closely together, and we will never give ground to such dirty games," he said.
Flanagan condemns attack, no reports of Irish casualties
Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan condemned the attack.
He said: "Terrorists will not prevail in destabilising democracy as long as we continue to stand together and I reiterate that Ireland, along with other European Union Member States, stands in solidarity with Turkey in the fight against terrorism.
"Ireland's Embassy in Ankara is in ongoing close contact with local Turkish authorities and other partners. We have not received any report of any Irish casualties," the minister added.
US President Barack Obama expressed condolences and directed his team to offer help to the Turkish authorities, the White House said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin Putin said Russia remained Turkey's reliable partner in fighting terrorism, according to a statement from the Kremlin.
Turkey facing multiple threats over involvement in Syria
Turkey, a NATO member and part of the US-led coalition against IS, faces multiple security threats including spillover from the war in neighbouring Syria.
It launched a military incursion into Syria in August against the radical Islamist group and is also fighting a Kurdish militant insurgency in its own southeast.
The New Year's Eve attack came five months after Turkey was shaken by a failed military coup, in which more than 240 people were killed, many of them in Istanbul, as rogue soldiers commandeered tanks and fighter jets in a bid to seize power.
Istanbul, Turkey's most populous city, has seen several attacks this year, the latest on 10 December, when two bombs claimed by Kurdish militants exploded outside a soccer stadium, killing 44 people and wounding more than 150.
In June, around 45 people were killed and hundreds wounded as three suspected IS militants carried out a gun and bomb attack on Istanbul's main Ataturk airport.
