Terrorist dresses as Santa Claus, kills 35 at Istanbul New Year party
Year 2017 ushered in tragedy for Turkey after a suspected terrorist killed at least 35 people at nightclub in Istanbul.
The shooter was dressed in a Santa Claus costume, CNN Turk reported.
The attacker targeted revelers at a New Year Eve’s party in the Reina nightclub, in the Ortakoy area, at about 1:30am local time.
At least another 40 people were injured in the attack.
“A terrorist with a long-range weapon … brutally and savagely carried out this incident by firing bullets on innocent people who were there solely to celebrate the New Year and have fun,” Istanbul governor Vasip Sahin told reporters at the scene of the attack.
There were reportedly as many as 700 people in the nightclub at the time of the attack, some of whom are believed to have jumped into the river to escape, the BBC reported.
Other reports quoted witnesses saying there were more attackers, and that they spoke Arabic. This could mean the Islamic State, so called, carried out the deadly act.
The tragedy came less than two weeks after Russian ambassador Andrei Karlov was shot dead by a Turkish police officer in Istanbul.
