Istanbul night club attack leaves 39 dead, mars New Year celebrations

The attack also left 40 people wounded

An attack that killed 39 revelers in an Istanbul nightclub, Turkey, cast a shadow on New Year celebrations attended by millions of people around the world on Sunday to ring in 2017.

The massacre, which also wounded at least 40 more people as panicked clubgoers jumped into the Bosphorus, stoked fears that large crowds of people cramming into major cities to celebrate the New Year could present a target for violent extremists.

Sydney kicked off celebrations — under tightened security around the globe — attended by some 1.5 million people with a spectacular fireworks display that lit up its iconic harbor.

Crowds in Hong Kong also flocked to the waterfront to watch fireworks explode over Victoria Harbour, while in Japan thousands packed the streets of Tokyo to release balloons into the air.

Celebrations swung into Europe with the night sky over Moscow's Red Square literally painted red by the fireworks.

And around half a million people thronged Paris's famous Champs-Elysees, where the Arc de Triomphe was lit up with a colourful countdown to 2017 and the word "welcome" in dozens of languages.

Under the watchful eye of some 2,000 military police, around two million people watched a fireworks display on Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana Beach that while impressive was shortened this year due to a severe economic crisis.

The raucous celebrations drew to an end a year of political shocks, from Britain's vote to leave the European Union to the election of maverick leaders in the United States and Philippines.

It has also been a year of celebrity deaths from David Bowie to Prince and Mohammed Ali.

2016 was also a year of bloodshed and misery that has seen the war in Syria, Europe's migrant crisis and numerous terror attacks dominate the headlines.

The violence continued on Saturday, with twin bomb blasts killing at least 27 in a busy market area in central Baghdad.

But this did not stop people from flooding the streets of the Iraqi capital to celebrate and families in evening dress headed to swanky hotels for parties.

Fadhel al-Araji, a 21-year-old from the Sadr City neighborhood, already had his beer in the back of his car.

"Tonight is about fun... Everybody can do what they want and nobody cares. We need a night like this, Iraq needs it," he said, behind the wheel of his beat-up Toyota.