Turkish authorities have detained five alleged ISIS members in connection with the New Year’s Day nightclub terror attack that left 39 people dead and dozens wounded, state-run news agency Anadolu reported Wednesday.
That would bring the number held in connection with the investigation to at least 21, and Turkish authorities still are believed to be on the hunt for the gunman who carried out the attack at the Reina nightclub.
Details of where the latest detentions took place were not immediately available.
ISIS had claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted to Twitter, but the claim cannot be independently verified by CNN. It boasted about the first major terrorist attack of 2017.
Suspect seen in selfie video
On Monday, police released a video that the suspected gunman apparently took of himself in a market near the nightclub. Neither his name nor his nationality has been released.
Laith Alkhouri, a director at Flashpoint, an American business risk intelligence company tracking terrorist and cyber threats, told CNN the “selfie video” featuring the man in Taksim square was first posted on a pro-ISIS Telegram account before being broadcast by Turkish media.
Alkhouri said that suggests the attacker was part of a network supportive of or linked to ISIS, and that he had shared the selfie footage with them before or after the attack.
Developing story – more to come