Foreigners among victims of Istanbul attack

[ISTANBUL] Foreigners including many nationals of Arab countries were among the dead in the New Year shooting rampage at an Istanbul nightclub, officials said on Sunday.

A total of 39 people were killed in the assault at the exclusive Reina club on the shores of the Bosphorus and 65 injured, officials said.

Here is a breakdown of the nationalities of the dead and wounded known so far given by their respective countries:

Riyadh's consulate in Istanbul said that Saudis were among the victims, but gave no figures. The Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper however quoted a consulate source as saying that five Saudis including two women had died and 11 other people were injured. Al-Arabiya television also spoke of five dead and nine wounded.

The foreign ministry in Amman said three Jordanians were killed and four injured, the official Petra news agency reported.

A spokeman for Iraq's foreign ministry said that three Iraqis died in the attack.

The Lebanese foreign ministry announced the death of three Lebanese and said another four were wounded.

"I was saved by my passport which I was carrying right near my heart," one of the injured, Francois al-Asmar, told Lebanese television from his hospital bed.

The Tunisian foreign ministry said on its Facebook page that one Tunisian and one Franco-Tunisian had died. Tunisia's ambassador to France named the victims as husband and wife Mohamed Azzabi and Senda Nakaa who leave behind a five-month-old daughter.

India's external affairs minister said two nationals were among the dead, naming them as Abis Rizvi, the son of a former MP, and a woman, Khushi Shah.

Foreign ministry confirmed that two Moroccans were killed and four hospitalised.

The Israeli foreign ministry said a young Arab Israeli woman, 18-year-old Lian Nasser, had died.

Belgium's foreign ministry confirmed that a man in his 20s, a Belgian-Turkish dual national, was killed.

One Libyan was killed and three others hurt in the attack, according to the north African country's foreign ministry.

AFP