Accused Istanbul nightclub gunman Abdulgadir Masharipov formally charged, reports say
Updated
The gunman suspected of killing 39 people in an Istanbul nightclub on New Year's Day has been remanded in custody, Turkey's state-run media says.
Abdulkadir Masharipov was caught at a hide-out in Istanbul on January 16 after evading police for more than two weeks.
He was formally charged with membership of an armed terrorist group, multiple counts of murder, possession of heavy weapons and attempting to overturn the constitutional order, the state-run Anadolu news agency said on Saturday.
Authorities said the suspect was trained in Afghanistan and staged the attack for the Islamic State (IS) group.
IS has claimed responsibility for the attack on the Reina nightclub.
Turkey is part of the US-led coalition against IS and launched an incursion into neighbouring Syria in August to drive the Sunni militants, and Kurdish militia fighters, away from its borders.
The jihadist group has been blamed for at least half a dozen attacks on civilian targets in Turkey over the past 18 months, prompting the authorities to intensify their efforts to break up its suspected networks in the country.
Police in the southern city of Adana detained a Danish and a Swedish citizen suspected of receiving weapons and explosives training in Syria and of planning attacks in Europe, Anadolu said.
On Thursday, police in Gaziantep, another city near the Syrian border, detained four IS suspects believed to be planning attacks in Turkey, along with suicide belts and explosives.
The arrests came after the biggest round-up targeting the jihadist group in Turkey last weekend, in which 748 suspects were detained.
Reuters/AP
Topics: terrorism, unrest-conflict-and-war, turkey
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