From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, January 3, 2017
Turkey suspect’s wife ‘didn’t know’ IS links
Turkey’s Hurriyet newspaper says a woman identified by Turkish media as the wife of the Istanbul nightclub massacre suspect has told police she did not know her husband was a member of the Islamic State group.
IS has claimed responsibility for the New Year’s Eve attack that killed 39 people at the Reina nightclub. Police are still searching for the gunman.
The woman is detained in the central town of Konya as part of the investigation. Neither she nor her husband has been identified by name. Hurriyet says on its online edition Tuesday that the woman said she learned about the attack on television and told police she didn’t know her husband harbored “sympathies toward” the Islamic State group.
Media reports say the gunman flew to Istanbul from Kyrgyzstan with his wife and children on November 20. From there they drove to the Turkish capital, Ankara, by before arriving in Konya on November 22.
The family rented a studio in Konya, paying three months of rent upfront. The gunman told the estate agent he had arrived in Konya in search of work, according to the report.
Hurriyet said the gunman returned to Istanbul December 29.
— AP
The Times of Israel Community.