Police say they have identified the man accused of shooting dead 39 people in Istanbul nightclub terror attack

TURKISH cops have identified the alleged ISIS terrorist who murdered 39 people in an Istanbul night club on New Years day.

An Uzbek national named Abdulkadir Masharipov is said to have arrived in the Turkish city from the centre of the country on December 15, just over a fortnight before the atrocity was committed.

Turkish newspaper  reports that an ISIS cell operating in the central region of Konya consists of Uzbeks who provided Masharipov with support.

He remains at large after escaping the Reina nightclub despite a huge police presence in the city amid fears of attacks on New Years revellers.

Masharipov, codename "Ebu Muhammad Horasani" is accused of killing 39 people and wounding 65 others at the club, although some eyewitnesses have suggested there was more than one attacker.

Uzbek fighters have become deeply embedded in ISIS and have fought alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan.

They are also said to have secret outposts in some major Russian cities as well as having ties to Muslim extremists in China.

The news comes four days after Turkish police originally said they had identified the shooter for the third time.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said: "The identity of the person carrying out the attack has been determined."

New CCTV taken last month shows the man walking into a bus terminal in Konya.

He is believed to have then travelled from the city in central Turkey to carry out his murderous rampage that left 39 New Year revellers dead and 70 more injured.

The suspect is believed by police to have travelled to Konya with his wife and two children in November.

Anti-terror chiefs are convinced he had experience of fighting in Syria.

One security source told Reuters that he had "experience in combat for sure. He could have been fighting in Syria for years."

ISIS has already claimed responsibility for the attack.

Two other men had been wrongly accused of being the perpetrator of the attack.

Naim Sadakat, was first named on social media as a suspect behind the fatal shooting at the nightclub – but was not involved.

Then days later Iakhe Mashrapov had his passport leaked and was named as the chief suspect by Turkey’s state broadcaster earlier this week.

But Turkish police quickly realised it was a case of mistaken identity and released the 28-year-old with an apology.

He was later allowed to return to his home country of Kyrgyzstan after cops accepted the mistake.

Analysis of CCTV had suggested the terrorist was a skilled fighter and had likely been trained by ISIS in Syria.

Maharipov sprayed some 120 bullets from his Kalashnikov before disappearing into the night.

He is believed to have used devastating armour-piercing bullets inside the club to cause maximum casualties.

A witness told Turkish newspaper Hurriyet that the gunman had used flash grenades to disorientate victims before picking them off calmly with several magazines of ammunition.

A barman told the newspaper: “The terrorist threw something that lit up every time he finished his magazine. It happened at least three times.”

ISIS claimed the attack yesterday, the first time it has clearly stated being behind a major attack in Turkey.

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