Turkish authorities arrested two Chinese citizens over alleged links to the New Year’s nightclub terror attack in Istanbul, according to state-run Anadolu news agency.
Omar Asim and Abuliezi Abuduhamiti have been accused of being members of an “armed terror organization” and of involvement in 39 counts of murder, reported the news agency.
A gunman opened fire, killing 39 people and injuring 69 others during a New Year’s party at the upscale nightclub, Reina. Authorities are searching for the gunman who carried out the massacre.
ISIS claimed responsibility for the New Year’s attack in a statement posted to Twitter, but CNN cannot independently verify it.
Days after the deadly attack, Turkish police arrested several suspects who were from China’s northwestern Xinjiang region, on charges of aiding and abetting, reported Anadolu.
Xinjiang is home to a Turkic-speaking minority, known as the Uyghurs. The ethnicity of the two latest suspects were not reported.
So far, 35 people have been detained after the terror attack on the nightclub, police sources told Anadolu.