The Islamic State group on Monday claimed responsibility for an attack on a nightclub in the Turkish city of Istanbul that killed 39 people on New Year's Eve.
In a statement circulated on social media, the jihadist group said one of the "soldiers of the caliphate" had carried out the attack on the Reina nightclub, on the bank of the Bosphorus.
The statement said the attacker used hand grenades and a gun in the assault.
It accused Turkey, a majority-Muslim country, of serving Christians, in a possible reference to Ankara's alliance with the international coalition fighting IS in neighbouring Syria and Iraq.
The statement said the attack was in response to Turkey's military intervention against IS in Syria.
Turkey is a backer of Syria's opposition, but has also been waging its own military intervention in Syria since August, targeting both IS and Kurdish fighters.
The US-led coalition carrying out strikes against IS in Syria uses airbases inside Turkey.
The Reina nightclub attacker was still at large on Monday, with Turkey's interior minister saying intense efforts were under way to find him.
With the majority of those killed in Sunday's attack foreigners, families were due to reclaim the bodies of over two dozen non-Turkish nationals killed in the gun attack.
The attack, which unleashed scenes of carnage and panic among party-goers at one of Istanbul's swankiest venues, took place just 75 minutes into 2017 after a bloody year in which hundreds were killed in violence blamed on both jihadists and Kurdish militants.
Arriving by taxi at the plush Reina nightclub on the shores of the Bosphorus, the gunman produced a weapon, reportedly a Kalashnikov, and shot dead a policeman and civilian at the entrance.
According to the Hurriyet daily, the gunman then fired four magazines containing a total of 120 bullets around the club, as terrified guests flung themselves into the freezing waters of the Bosphorus in panic.
But after changing clothes, the gunman left the nightclub and has managed to evade the security forces.
A string of deadly attacks rocked Turkey throughout 2016, with some claimed by a Kurdish extremist group and others suspected to be the work of IS.
Beirut, Lebanon | Istanbul, Turkey | AFP
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