Reina Attacker 'Targeted Taksim Square' on New Year

Turkish authorities say the gunman who opened fire on New Year revelers in Istanbul, killing 39 people and wounding 65, was initially targeting the landmark Taksim Square, according to Hürriyet Daily News.

Abdulkadir Masharipov, detained earlier this week as the suspected perpetator, is quoted as saying he acted on the orders of an Islamic State (IS) group emir in Raqqa, the defecto capital of IS in Syria.

It was security measures on Taksim Square that prevented him to go there, he is reported as telling authorities." It didn’t seem possible to carry out an attack. I again contacted the person who gave me the order. We decided that Taksim wasn’t suitable for an attack and he ordered me to look for a new target. I traveled along the coast with a taxi at around 10 p.m. Reina seemed right."

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