Turkey said Wednesday (January 4th) it had identified the gunman behind the New Year's attack on an Istanbul nightclub that killed 39, AFP reported.

Of the 39 killed in the attack, claimed by the "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (ISIL), 27 were foreigners, including citizens of Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iraq, Tunisia and Morocco.

"The identity of the person responsible for the attack has been established," Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told state-run Anadolu news agency, without giving any name.

"Efforts to capture him continue," he said, adding that the house the suspect lived in "has been searched".

In the western city of Izmir, at least 20 people, including 11 women, were taken into custody as part of the investigation into the attack, Anadolu reported.

The news agency said they were of Central Asian and Syrian origin while Dogan news agency said they were members of three families.

The new arrests bring the number of those detained to at least 36, including two foreigners detained by Turkish police at Istanbul's main airport on Tuesday.