Istanbul nightclub attacker from Uzbekistan, admits guilt: Governor

The suspected gunman who killed 39 people in an Istanbul nightclub on New Year's Day was born in Uzbekistan and received training in Afghanistan, Istanbul Governor Vasip Sahin said on Tuesday after police caught him in a city suburb.

Sahin told reporters that the alleged attacker, whom he named as Abdulgadir Masharipov, born in 1983, had admitted his guilt and his fingerprints matched those at the scene.

There were strong indications that the suspect, who spoke four languages, had entered Turkey illegally through its eastern borders, Sahin said, adding that it was clear the attack was carried out on behalf of Islamic State (ISIS).

"I congratulate our police who caught the perpetrator of the Ortakoy massacre," Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus, who is also the government spokesman, said on social network Twitter. "Our war with terror and the powers behind it will continue to the end," he added.

On January 1, the attacker shot his way into the Reina nightclub then opened fire with an automatic rifle, reloading his weapon half a dozen times and shooting the wounded as they lay on the ground. Turks as well as visitors from several Arab nations, India and Canada were among the 39 killed in the attack.