ISIS claims Istanbul nightclub attack, gunman used chaos to escape

A New Year's Day attack in a nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey, has left 39 people dead — including one Canadian — and 69 injured, just an hour after 2017 had been rung in.

The gunman appeared to be working alone.

CBC's correspondent Nil Köksal tells The Current's Anna Maria Tremonti that most of the people killed in the upscale club were foreigners from places like Lebanon, Morocco and Saudi Arabia.

Investigators say the attack was very well planned.

"He was in and out in seven minutes," says Köksal who is based in Istanbul. 

"He changed when he was inside the nightclub and then used the frenzy and the chaos to get away."  

 Köksal says the manhunt is still under way all across Turkey.

"In the last little while there's been breaking news bulletins here from local media in Turkey saying that eight people have been detained in relation to this attack," Köksal tells Tremonti. "That's all we know so far."

ISIS has claimed responsibility for the carnage. It also claimed responsibility for a massive suicide truck bombing in a Baghdad market on Jan. 2. The market was full of people and the death toll there is rising.

In 2016, Turkey saw more than 20 attacks, perpetrated by ISIS as well as Kurdish rebels.

"Relentless is the word … that keeps coming to mind because it really does feel like that," says Köksal.

For more on this story go to CBC.ca/News.

Listen to the full segment at the top of this web post.

This segment was produced by The Current's Karin Marley.