Istanbul Nightclub Gun Attack Suspect: With Photos And Video, Everything We Know About Turkey New Year Shooting Gunman

Two days after a gunman ran into a Istanbul night club and killed 39 New Year’s revelers while wounding dozens more, police released some of the first images of the suspected attacker on Monday. A video also showed him as he started his attack just an hour into 2017.

Details around his identity were scarce, but Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus told reporters Monday that officials had obtained fingerprints and a basic profile of the attacker. The attack was later claimed by the Islamic State group via a Twitter account affiliated with ISIS. Police were still searching for the suspect Monday but had arrested several individuals in relation to the attack. Two towns were reportedly targets of police raids Monday as officials continued to search.

“We are face to face with a terror attack,” Suleyman Soylu, Turkey’s interior minister, said Sunday morning, according to multiple media reports.“God willing, he will be caught in a short period of time.”

The gunman showed up at the posh Turkish nightclub Reina at about 1:15 a.m. Sunday local time dressed in all black with a backpack and assault-style weapon in his hands. He first killed a policeman and a civilian outside the club before entering the venue, where he sprayed the celebration with bullets. Multiple witnesses reported hearing him yell, “Allahu Akbar” -- “God is great” in Arabic -- during or before the shooting. Scared party-goers scrambled from the scene and some jumped into a nearby river to avoid death.

The shooter reportedly dropped his weapon after the attack and capitalized on the chaos he had created to get away from the scene of the crime.

The attack followed a bloody year for Turkey. Several terror attacks in the country were carried out in December alone, including the assassination of a Russian ambassador to Turkey by an off-duty police officer.

The New Year's attack was condemned by world leaders including Pope Francis, Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the White House and others.