Victims in Istanbul New Year’s Attack Came From at Least 12 Countries

A mourner laid flowers on Sunday outside the Reina nightclub in Istanbul, where 39 people were killed at a New Year’s Eve party. Credit Yasin Akgul/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Abis Rizvi made a Bollywood action film about tigers. Leanne Nasser insisted on traveling from Israel, even though her father was worried about her safety. Haykal Mousallem, a businessman, came from Lebanon with his wife to ring in the new year. Also there to celebrate was Nawras Assaf, who owned a lounge and bar in Jordan.

These four people were among an estimated 39 victims killed early Sunday morning in a rampage by a gunman who entered a nightclub in Istanbul, on the shore of the Bosporus, and opened fire on a New Year’s Eve celebration.

Even after a year in which Turkey was pounded by a coup attempt, an assassination and multiple terrorist attacks, the Reina nightclub was still a buzzing oasis, frequented by Turks and foreigners, many of them from the Middle East or South Asia.

The patrons ranged widely in nationality and religion. What they tended to share was a zest for looking good and having fun, and the ability to afford an expensive evening on the town.

At least 25 of the people killed were foreigners, according to the semiofficial Anadolu news agency. According to news reports and government statements, the dead included citizens of Belgium, Canada, France, India, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia.

Partly because of restrictions on news coverage, very little information about the Turkish victims of the attack was immediately available on Sunday, although a young police officer and a travel agent were said to be among those killed.

The death of Mr. Rizvi, the Bollywood producer, was confirmed by Sushma Swaraj, the foreign minister of India, who said she was arranging for his family to go to Turkey.

Mr. Rizvi came from a prominent real estate family based in Mumbai; his father, Akhtar Hasan Rizvi, is a former member of the upper house of the Indian Parliament. A younger brother of Abis Rizvi died of cancer in 2009, a cousin, Rashid Rizvi, said in a phone interview.

Mr. Rizvi was passionate about environmental conservation and produced a 2014 film titled “Roar: Tigers of the Sundarbans,” set in a Bengali region famous for its mangrove forest. In the film, a young photojournalist rescues a white tiger cub ensnared by a poacher’s trap. The tiger’s vengeful mother, in a failed search for her cub, kills the journalist, and then commandos are called in to pursue the tigress.

Members of Mumbai’s creative communities took to Twitter to express their grief on Sunday. Rouble Nagi, an artist and collector, called Mr. Rizvi a good friend whom she had seen a few days ago. Shagufta Rafique, a screenwriter, wrote that she was “speechless” on learning of his death.

“This time it hits home straight home!” Nora Fatehi, an actress in “Roar,” wrote on Twitter. “I never imagined I would lose someone from these evil attacks that u hear of day to day!” She denounced the attack as an act of “inhuman savagery.”

Ms. Nasser, the young Israeli who died in the attack, was from Tira, an Arab Israeli town. A friend from the same town, who traveled with her, was hospitalized with gunshot wounds. Two other friends were reported to have escaped unharmed.

Ms. Nasser’s father, Zaher, told the Israeli news site Ynet: “I know that the security situation in Turkey is not simple. Before she left, I asked her not to go, but to my regret, she insisted.”

Ms. Nasser was the second Israeli woman to be killed in a terrorist attack abroad in less than two weeks. Dalia Elyakim, a resident of the coastal city Herzliya, was visiting Berlin with her husband when a truck plowed into a Christmas market on Dec. 19, killing her and 11 others.

The death of Mr. Mousallem, the Lebanese businessman who had gone to Istanbul with his wife, was confirmed by their relatives, according to Reuters.

Standing in front of a forensic institute on the outskirts of Istanbul on Sunday night, Stephanie Deek, a Lebanese woman, said that she knew Mr. Mousallem and his wife. They had married only five months ago, she said.

“He went to the toilet, and his wife was waiting inside for him when the attack happened,” Ms. Deek said as local officials offered tea to grieving families. “She ran outside but couldn’t find her husband.”

Ms. Deek said: “I am so sad. I cannot describe how I feel. I did not expect to find him here. I thought he was just missing.”

The Jordanian Foreign Ministry said that two citizens of Jordan were among the dead.

One of them was identified by friends as Mr. Assaf, the owner of the Pi Lounge & Bar in Amman, the Jordanian capital. He was a father of three, and a brother-in-law of the country’s water and irrigation minister. His wife was injured.

“You are cowards and traitors,” one of his friends, Yazeed Massarweh, wrote on Facebook. “May God rest your soul Nawras, my smiling, laughing friend and may your family have patience.”

Another friend, Jamal Lattouf, wrote on Facebook: “Very sad for the death of my friend Nawras Assaf in the savage, barbaric attack in Istanbul. Rest in peace.”

The other Jordanian confirmed killed was Mohammad Sarraf, a businessman.

At least two people killed in the attack had dual citizenship. One was a French citizen of Tunisian origin, who died with her Tunisian husband, according to the French Foreign Ministry. Another was a Belgian citizen of Turkish ancestry, according to the Foreign Ministry of Belgium.

Source: NYTimes