Suspected Istanbul New Year gunman 'confesses'

A 34-year-old Uzbek man suspected of slaughtering 39 people at an Istanbul night-club on New Year's Eve confessed to the massacre on Tuesday, hours after his capture in a police raid. Authorities detained Abdulgadir Masharipov, who spent 17 days on the run after the attack claimed by Islamic State (IS) jihadists, along with three women and an Iraqi man during a massive police operation in Istanbul.
"The terrorist confessed his crime," Istanbul governor Vasip Sahin told reporters. He said the fingerprints matched those of the attacker and confirmed he is an Uzbek national.
"He was trained in Afghanistan and can speak four languages. He's a well-trained terrorist," added the governor, saying Masharipov is believed to have first entered Turkey in January 2016.
Police also confiscated 197,000 US dollars (185,000 euros), two firearms and clips during the raid on an apartment, he added.
The arrest eased the anxiety of Istanbul residents, already on edge after a string of attacks, who had feared for more than a fortnight that a trained killer was on the loose in the city.
Local media published a picture of the detained man with blood on his face and T-shirt, his neck gripped by a policeman.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hailed the arrest and congratulated the security forces.
"From now on in this country, nobody will get away with what they have done," he said in a speech in Ankara. "Everyone will be brought to account within the rule of law."
The operation to find the whereabouts and capture the suspected jihadist involved some 2,000 police officers, the Istanbul governor said.
The suspect had apparently slipped into the night following the attack on the glamorous Reina night-club on the Bosphorus, as police tightened borders to prevent him escaping.
But he was hiding in the working-class, densely populated western districts of Istanbul. Days of police tracking eventually traced him to an apartment in the residential Esenyurt district.
An Iraqi man was also detained with him, as well as three women, one a Egyptian citizen and two others from African states, Sahin said.
Police allowed reporters into the apartment, which had been thrown upside down during the 20 minute raid to apprehend the suspected extremist.
Drawers were flung open and clothes thrown onto the floor. But there were also tantalising glimpses of daily life like hand-written notes and a half-eaten loaf of bread.