Turkey attacker ID'd as 5 ISIS suspects detained

Istanbul -- Turkey said it has identified the jihadist who slaughtered 39 unarmed people and wounded nearly 70, in an Istanbul nightclub--but the country's foreign minister wouldn't name the scum who pulled the trigger as he still remains at large.

The Turkish media screwed up the suspect's name twice as well as photos of a possible suspect since the attack on New Year's Day morning, so they are now being very cautious with the information.

In a televised interview with Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu he said "The identity of the person who carried out the attack on the Reina nightclub has been established."

Since the attack, Turkish police detained five suspected ISIS militants believed to be linked to the attack during an operation in the Aegean port city of Izmir.

ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack saying that a "soldier of the caliphate" had carried out the shooting to avenge Turkish military operations against them in northern Syria.

In a speech made from Ankara, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed the attack was aimed to set Turks against each other and deepen fault lines. He was responding to accusations made in the past that Turkey supported ISIS and said that "to present the country which is leading the greatest struggle against [ISIS] as one supporting terrorism is what the terror organization wants."

And he went on "To say Turkey has surrendered to terrorism is to take sides with the terrorists and terror organizations."

Since the attack, Istanbul has been on high alert. Police have set up checkpoints and are checking vehicles across the city. The attacker used a taxi to get to and from the nightclub the morning of the attack, and police are checking taxis and having passengers hold up their identifications while the vehicles are inspected.

In Izmir,  27 people, including women and children, were taken into custody as three families who had come from Konya where the gunman is believed to have been based before carrying out the attack.

Turkish media reports that the gunman's wife was in custody and claimed ignorance about his link to ISIS. 

She may have told the media: "He tells me nothing. He doesn't even let me drive or go outside without a male escort. He hits me if I don't pray enough to please him. I can't even vote or go to the market without a male escort. All he wants me for is to 'plow my fertile fields,' if you know what I mean."

It is believed that much of what she revealed, she learned from watching "Hannity."



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