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| Europe | |
| Guler Announces Names Of Suicide Bombers | |
| 2003-11-19 | |
| EFL: Istanbul Governor Muammer Guler has said, ’’DNA tests have unveiled that Mesut Cabuk, 29, had conducted Saturday’s bomb attack on Beth Israel Synagogue while Gokhan Elaltuntas, 22, staged the second attack on Neve Shalom.’’ Together with Istanbul Police Chief Celalettin Cerrah, Guler held a press conference on Wednesday. ’’As a result of security forces’ works on evidences gathered from the scenes of the attacks, it was revealed that it was Cabuk who staged the bomb attack on Beth Israel synagogue. Meanwhile, DNA tests confirmed that Elaltuntas carried out the attack on Neve Shalom synagogue,’’ he said. Guler told reporters, ’’when we look at the target and method of the actions and the connections of these two people, they are parallel with terrorist actions undertaken by al-Qaida terrorist network in other parts of the world.’’ Defining the two attacks as the biggest terrorist attacks staged in Turkey and Istanbul in recent years, Guler said, ’’it has become definite that the bomb attacks staged in Istanbul were suicide attacks staged by loading a great deal of explosives on lorries. Twenty-five people, including two suicide bombers, died and 303 people were injured in two blasts... As a result of investigation of evidence in the spots of two blasts, it has been verified with DNA testing that Mesut Cabuk born in eastern Bingol province in 1974 was the suicide bomber in attack on Beth Israel Synagogue and Gokhan Elaltuntas born in Bingol in 1981 was responsible for the attack on Neve Shalom Synagogue.’’ CSI-Istanbul got the test results back. Guler added, ’’when the target and style of attacks and the connections of the assailants are taken into consideration, the incidents at the synagogues show parallels with acts carried out by al Qaeda.’’ Security units continued their investigation, Guler said. Guler recalled that interrogations and investigation were carried out in coordination with State Security Court (DGM) Chief Prosecutor’s Office and refrained from commenting on the issue since DGM banned leakage of information to press. Noting that Istanbul police had well-evaluated evidence collected after the attacks, Guler said that it was a big success of Turkish police and Istanbul Police Department. So far, so good. ’’Further investigations will be carried out in coordination and cooperation with international organizations and intelligence units. Thus, the attacks will be totally illuminated,’’ Guler said.
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| Posted by:Steve |
| #5 Update: ``One can't say with 100 percent certainty, but the first investigations indicate that these people have traveled a few times to Afghanistan,'' Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said at a news conference in Stockholm, Sweden. ``I think that we need some more time to better shed light on this issue.'' Eight people, including relatives of two suspected accomplices who allegedly provided the pickup trucks, were under interrogation, private CNN-Turk television said. Police would not confirm the report But they did send out for a case of truncheon cleaner and a liter of mustache wax. |
| Posted by: Steve 2003-11-19 4:50:34 PM |
| #4 Ptah- Design feature, huh? That must mean Microsoft is behind it all. |
| Posted by: Spot 2003-11-19 10:39:11 AM |
| #3 Confusion in this area is not a bug, Spot. It's a design feature... |
| Posted by: Ptah 2003-11-19 10:35:23 AM |
| #2 Another friggin' group? How do they expect us to keep 'em straight? I would think they'd have run out of names by now. |
| Posted by: Spot 2003-11-19 10:00:00 AM |
| #1 More details: The daily newspaper Hurriyet, citing police, said Wednesday that the suspects were members of Beyyiat el-Imam, a little-known group formed in al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan. The group's name means "Allegiance to the Imam" in Arabic. Guler said both suicide bombers were from the southeastern town of Bingol, a hotbed of underground Islamic group of Hezbollah, which is not linked to the Lebanon-based group with the same name. It was not clear if the two attackers have had ties with the group. Al-Qaida claimed responsibility for the bombings Sunday in messages to two Arabic-language newspapers. It was not possible to authenticate those claims. An outlawed Turkish radical group called the Islamic Great Eastern Raiders' Front, or IBDA-C, also claimed responsibility, but Turkish authorities said the attack was too sophisticated to be carried out by that group. Turkey has been chasing possible links between local Islamic groups and al-Qaida since a notebook containing instructions in Turkish on how to carry out suicide bombings was found in an al-Qaida camp in Afghanistan in 2001. Newspapers reported that the accomplices of the suicide bombers also were two Turks - 27-year-old Azad Ekinci, a schoolmate of Cabuk, and Feridun Ugurlu. Ekinci and Ugurlu fled to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates on Oct. 28 before the bombings, Hurriyet said. Police did not confirm the reports. |
| Posted by: Steve 2003-11-19 9:46:35 AM |