Two foreign nationals were detained at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport in connection with a New Year’s Eve mass shooting at a nightclub, Turkish media reported yesterday.
However, the main suspect was still on the run.
The two are being held for possible links to the man, who is suspected of killing 39 people in the Reina club on Saturday, Dogan news agency reported.
They were picked up by police during checks at the entrance to the metro station for the airport’s international terminal.
Earlier, two other leads in the attack emerged: the publication of a video filmed by the suspect and the reported detention of his wife.
The suspect’s wife was among several held after overnight raids in the central province of Konya, Dogan reported.
The total number of those detained in connection with the shooting is now at 16, but there is no sign yet of a breakthrough in finding the gunman.
The main suspect reportedly travelled from Syria to Turkey with his child and wife in November 2016.
News of the raids came hours after the publication of a video taken by the suspect.
The 42-second selfie video shows a dark-haired man’s face clearly as he walks around what is thought to be an area of central Istanbul.
Previous grainy images of the suspect had been from surveillance footage.
Partygoers from Turkey and Middle Eastern countries were the primary victims of the attack at the waterfront nightclub.
Anti-terrorism units conducted an operation in Istanbul on Monday night in their attempt to find the gunman, local media reported.
There was no information on any arrests.
Authorities in Kyrgyzstan meanwhile said that they were in “constant contact” with Turkish investigators to help identify the main suspect in the attack, following media reports that he may hail from Central Asia.
“In connection with ... the possible involvement of a citizen of Kyrgyzstan, representatives of the state committee for national security are in constant contact with Turkish authorities,” the committee’s Rakhat Sulaimanov said in comments carried by the Interfax news agency.
One man had been detained for questioning and then released, Sulaimanov said, because “there is no evidence of his involvement in a terrorist act”.
The Islamic State (IS) group claimed that one of its members had carried out the shooting in response to an order from the group’s leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, to target Turkey.
DPA could not independently verify the authenticity of Monday’s claim from the group, but it appeared consistent with its previous claims in other incidents.
Turkey and allied Syrian rebel forces invaded Islamic State-held areas of northern Syria in August, forcing the extremist group from its last stretch of the border between the two countries.
Turkish military operations against Islamic State in northern Syria were continuing in the wake of the attack, with 150 targets hit, and some 18 “terrorists” killed in the last 24 hours, Anadolu reported yesterday.
The authorities in Turkey were meanwhile investigating hundreds of social media accounts in the wake of the nightclub attack, accusing them of spreading hatred online.
A total of 347 accounts were being investigated, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said, according to Anadolu.

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