by WorldTribune Staff, January 2, 2017
Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) said one of its jihadists carried out the New Year’s Eve terror attack in Istanbul “to take revenge on Turkey, who serves the cross.”
The attack at the Reina nightclub killed 39 people and wounded at least 150 others. The terrorist who carried out the attack remains at large.
“There are similarities between this terror attack and the one ISIL carried out in June at the airport in Ataturk,” Turkish media reported on Jan. 2.
ISIL’s propaganda wing released a statement that said: “After the blessed actions of the ISIL martyr against those in Turkey who observe the religion of the cross, when he destroyed them with hand grenades and bullets, and turned their joy into sadness, 150 people were killed and wounded in revenge for the sake of Allah’s religion. The commander of the believers has ordered us to harm those who serve the cross, in Turkey.”
The statement also said the “heretical Turkish government should know Muslims spilled its blood with bombs from its planes…we will light more fires in the country with Allah’s help.”
Aykan Erdemir, a former member of Turkish Parliament, said “this is an attack on the Western lifestyle. This is an attack on Turkey’s secular, urban way of living. And this will simply fuel the ongoing cultural clashes, the ongoing polarization in Turkey.”