Official: Turkey closing in on nightclub gunman

ISTANBUL -- Turkish police are closing in on the gunman who killed 39 people at an Istanbul nightclub, a senior government official said Thursday, insisting the suspect's possible whereabouts and contacts have been established.

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Veysi Kaynak told A Haber news channel in an interview the gunman who attacked Istanbul's upscale Reina nightclub was probably from China's Muslim Uighur minority and a "specially trained member of a (terror) cell."

Kaynak said authorities think the man, whose name hasn't been revealed, is still inside Turkey, although they haven't ruled out the possibility he may have escaped after the New Year's attack.

"Because we have taken utmost measures at our airports -- even though we don't rule it out completely -- we believe that we will get results from operations inside Turkey," he said.

His comments came hours after police conducted more raids in their hunt for the gunman and detained several people at a housing complex on Istanbul's outskirts, the state-run news agency reported.

Anadolu Agency said gendarmerie police and special-operations teams detained an undisclosed number of Uighurs during the raids.

The Anadolu report said they were suspected of "aiding and abetting" the gunman.

At least 39 other people -- including 11 women -- already were in custody over suspected links to the attack.

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility, saying the nightclub attack was in reprisal for Turkish military operations in northern Syria.

The nightclub massacre was the latest in a string of attacks by either the IS or Kurdish militants that have rocked the country since the summer of 2015.

On Thursday, suspected Kurdish militants opened fire at police who stopped them at a checkpoint in the western city of Izmir before detonating their explosives-laden vehicle.

A police officer and a courthouse employee were killed in the attack, while two assailants also were shot dead.