ISTANBUL: An eerie video emerged Tuesday of a man believed to be the attacker who killed 39 people in a mass shooting at a nightclub, showing him taking a selfie as he silently toured Istanbul’s most famous square.
The camera never leaves the man’s unsmiling face as he walked through Taksim Square during the 44-second clip that was broadcast on state-run Anadolu television and other Turkish media.
It wasn’t immediately clear if the video was made before or after the New Year’s massacre at the Reina nightclub, or how it was obtained. The gunman, who hasn’t been publicly identified, is still at large.
On Monday, the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack, which also wounded nearly 70 people. The extremists said a “soldier of the caliphate” had carried out the mass shooting to avenge Turkish military operations against IS in northern Syria.
Funerals began Tuesday in Jordan, Lebanon, Israel and Turkey for the dead, most of them tourists. Mourners wept for the lives that were cut short in the early hours of 2017 at the popular club.
Thousands attended the funeral of Layan Nasser, an 18-year-old Arab Israeli dental assistant who was buried in the Israeli city of Tira.
“She had dreams to work, to progress, to study, to raise a family, but unfortunately the terror put an end to her dreams,” said Tira Mayor Mamoun Abd El Hai.
Hundreds attended funerals for two of three Lebanese victims. One of them, fitness instructor Elias Wardini, 26, was recently engaged to be married. His family and friends set off fireworks as his coffin arrived at a Beirut church.
At least 14 people have been detained in connection with the attack, including two foreigners stopped Tuesday at the international terminal of Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport after police checked their cellphones and luggage, according to Anadolu.
The Hurriyet newspaper said a woman identified by Turkish media as the suspect’s wife has told police she didn’t know he was a member of the Islamic State group.
The woman was detained in the central town of Konya as part of the investigation. Neither she nor her husband has been identified. Hurriyet reported in its online edition that the woman said she learned about the attack on TV and told police she didn’t know her husband harbored “sympathies” toward IS.
Media reports said the gunman flew to Istanbul from Kyrgyzstan with his wife and children Nov. 20. From there, they drove to the Turkish capital, Ankara, before arriving two days later in Konya. They rented a studio there, paying three months of rent in advance. The gunman told the real estate agent he was looking for work, according to the report.
Hurriyet said he returned to Istanbul Dec. 29.
Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu told parliament that authorities thwarted 339 possible attacks in 2016, including 313 by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party and 22 by the Islamic State.
Lawmakers cited the numbers when they extended to April 19 the state of emergency imposed after July’s attempted coup, according to the dpa news agency.