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Europe

Turkey: suspected gunman's capture aids security against IS

Associated Press
Published | Updated
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    A member of the media uses his mobile phone to take pictures of belongings including banknotes of different currencies on a bed inside the flat where a suspect of New Year's Day nightclub attack was arrested during an overnight police raid, in Istanbul, Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2017. Turkish police said they captured the gunman who carried out the deadly New Year's nightclub attack in Istanbul, with officials saying Tuesday that he's an Uzbekistan national who trained in Afghanistan and confessed to the massacre.(AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis) (The Associated Press)

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    Belongings including banknotes of different currencies are pictured on a bed inside the flat where a suspect of New Year's Day nightclub attack was arrested during an overnight police raid, in Istanbul, Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2017. Turkish police said they captured the gunman who carried out the deadly New Year's nightclub attack in Istanbul, with officials saying Tuesday that he's an Uzbekistan national who trained in Afghanistan and confessed to the massacre.(AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis) (The Associated Press)

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    Reina club attacker after being caught by Turkish police in Istanbul, late Monday, Jan. 16, 2017. Turkish media reports say police have caught the gunman who killed 39 people at an attack on a nightclub in Istanbul during New Year's celebrations, detained during a police operation. (Depo Photos via AP) (The Associated Press)

ANKARA, Turkey – Turkey's justice minister says the capture of the suspected perpetrator of the New Year's nightclub attack in Istanbul will lead to a better understanding of the Islamic State group's operations in Turkey.

The suspect was caught in a police operation in Istanbul late on Monday. Authorities identified him as an Uzbek national who trained in Afghanistan and staged the attack for the IS.

Bekir Bozdag said Wednesday that the arrest would reveal "important information" on IS' modes of operation and improve the security forces' ability to thwart attacks.

IS claimed responsibility for the attack which killed 39 people. Turkish authorities say the suspect has confessed.

Bozdag says there was no doubt the attack was the work of IS, saying: "This act's links to (IS) are as clear as the sun."