AKIPRESS.COM - Some 40 Islamic State (IS) suspects allegedly linked to the Jan. 1 Reina nightclub massacre were detained early on Wednesday in the Aegean province of Izmir, reported the Dogan News Agency.

Twenty children - nine boys and 11 girls, mostly from Eastern Turkestan, Dagestan and Kyrgyzstan - were reportedly among the detainees.

Earlier, police had detained 27 people, including members of three families with alleged links to the attacker, in the Buca district of İzmir.

Police teams had initially raided several addresses in the Central Anatolian province of Konya to detain the suspected families, but did not find any of them at the addresses.

The targeted individuals reportedly fled to İzmir and settled in Buca 15 days ago.

They had reportedly fled to İzmir after the Reina attack.

According to the investigation, the attacker arrived in Konya with his wife and two children and hired a house there. His family members, whose identities remain hidden, have been detained by police.

“I learned about the attack from the TV. I didn’t know that my husband was an ISIS (IS) militant, let alone a sympathizer” his wife reportedly said in her testimony.

Detentions have been carried out since the attack, mostly of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan citizens living in the Istanbul district of Zeytinburnu, where the police raided eight different addresses.

Police also carried out operations in the Istanbul district of Başakşehir, and two foreign nationals were detained in connection to the Reina attack at Istanbul Atatürk Airport on Tuesday.