Cyber attack knocks out Istanbul power ahead of nightclub terror

Istanbul was plunged in darkness on and off for three days ahead of the New Year shooting attack which killed 39 people and injured 69 at the high-end Reina nightclub. ISIS which claimed the shooting may also have committed a cyber attack on the Turkish Energy Ministry’s computers that control the power supply for the city’s 14 million dwellers. The killer and his helpers planned to use the chaos exacerbated by the dark to maximize the number of victims, hold up emergency services and facilitate their escape.

Among his victims were an 18-year old Israel girl, Lean Nasser from Tirah, who died, and her two friends from the same Israeli town, one of whom was shot and injured.

Turkish security experts are quoted by the local Daily News as determining that the ISIS killer who staged the nightclub attack in the early hours of Jan. 1 behaved like a professional who had received military training on how to use a weapon and live experience in clash zones. In the course of the attack he changed six chargers and fired over 180 bullets. Before escaping, he carefully cleaned his weapon.

“He had no hesitation in shooting at innocent people. He is absolutely a killer and he most probably shot at humans before,” they said. From the first footage police released of the killer, they inferred that he may be from Uzbekistan or Kyrgyzstan or possibly the eastern Chinese province of Xinjiang, and aged 25. He is still at large.