Turkey confirms identity of Istanbul nightclub attacker

The gunman who staged an armed attack that claimed 39 lives in Istanbul's Reina nightclub has been identified, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Wednesday.

Works conducted to reveal more details on the attack were ongoing, the minister said at the Anadolu Agency's Editor's Desk.

Meanwhile, some 27 Islamic State (IS) suspects allegedly linked to the Jan. 1 Reina nightclub shooting were detained on Wednesday in Aegean province of Izmir, Dogan News Agency reported.

Police have detained 27 people including three families who had alleged links to the attacker.

Police teams initially conducted raids at addresses in the central Anatolian province of Konya to detain the suspected three foreign national families, but could not find anyone at the address.

They had reportedly fled to Izmir after the Reina attack.

Turkish General Staff stated on Wednesday that 6 IS terrorists have been killed, 104 targets belonging to the terrorists have been shelled by the Turkish military in Al-Bab in northern Syria.

An IS terrorist opened fire on partygoers at a nightclub in Istanbul's Ortakoy district in the early hours of New Year's Day, killing 39 people and wounding 65.

source: Xinhua