Police on Tuesday arrested at Istanbul's main airport two people over the deadly New Year’s Eve gun attack at a popular nightclub in the city, the Anadolu new agency said, citing a a security official.
The arrests brought to 16 the total number of suspects held over the attack.
Turkish anti-terror teams stopped the foreign national duo at the search point of the entrance of Istanbul Ataturk Airport’s international departures, Anadolu said.
The suspects’ mobile phones and baggage were searched and they were taken to Istanbul police headquarters, according to Anadolu.
Police arrested a further six people earlier on Tuesday and eight people on Monday over the attack at the Reina nightclub which killed 39 people injured 70. The Islamic State jihadist group claimed the assault.
Turkish authorities have released security camera images of the alleged killer, who shot dead a police officer and civilian outside the venue on the European shore of the Bosporus before entering and opening fire on revellers.
Turkish officials have not commented on the details of the investigation. But government spokesman Numan Kurtulmus said on Monday that the authorities were close to identifying the gunman after gathering fingerprints and information on his appearance.
Those held included a woman suspected of being the gunman’s wife, with whom he had stayed in the central Turkish city of Konya along with two children, the private Dogan news agency said. Daily Hurriyet said the woman had told police she did not know her husband was a supporter of IS.
Turkish media reported that police were seeking a 28-year-old Kyrgyz national. Kyrgyzstan’s security service said it had been in touch with Turkish authorities and that officers had questioned a man who was then released.
Kyrgyz authorities said they had questioned the man and that he had played no part in the attack.
The man, named in Kyrgyz media reports and on social media as Iakhe Mashrapov, has denied any involvement in terrorism and the Reina attack.
His passport photo mage circulated on social media Tuesday showed some similiarity to the CCTV images of the alleged killer which were released by Turkish authorities.
The Reina attack was the first on Turkish soil to have been claimed openly by IS.
