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New Year nightclub attacker caught in Istanbul - Turkish media reports

Five people were detained in the operation, including three women
Five people were detained in the operation, including three women

The gunman who killed 39 people in an Istanbul nightclub on New Year's Day has been caught in the city's Esenyurt district, the Hurriyet newspaper website and other media reports said.

State-run TRT television reported that the alleged attacker was found along with his four-year-old son in an apartment after a massive police operation.

The attacker had been on the run for over two weeks after the attack.

Reports had previously suggested he never left the city, despite a tightening of borders in a bid to stop him escaping.

So-called Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was revenge for Turkish military involvement in Syria.

The attacker shot his way into the exclusive Reina nightclub in the early hours of 1 January, then opened fire with an automatic rifle, reloading his weapon half a dozen times and shooting the wounded as they lay on the ground.

Turks and visitors from several Arab nations, India and Canada were among the dead.

The suspect was caught in an operation jointly carried out by the Turkish police and the spy agency MIT, Turkish TV said.

Dogan news agency published a picture of the detained man with blood on his face and T-shirt, his neck gripped by a policeman.

There had been confusion over the identity of the attacker in the wake of the massacre, with reports initially suggesting a Kyrgyz national and then a Uighur from China.

But reports on 8 January said intelligence services and anti-terror police in Istanbul had identified him as a 34-year-old Uzbek who was part of a Central Asian IS cell.

The state run Anadolu news agency identified the detained man as Abdulgadir Masharipov, while the Dogan news agency said he used the code name of Ebu Muhammed Horasani within IS.

These are the same names given in the 8 January reports.

The suspect was living in an apartment rented by a Kyrgyz in Istanbul who was also detained, TRT reported. Anatolia said a total of five people were detained in the operation, including three women.