Some new details, snip as needed.
A DOZEN suspects were last night being interrogated by anti-terror police investigating the twin suicide bomb blasts in Istanbul that left 27 people dead.
| When it comes to large men with moustachios and truncheons, Turkey sets the standard... |
Those held were also being questioned about attacks on two synagogues in Turkey’s largest city last weekend that killed 23 people. As al-Qaida claimed responsibility for the attacks, police revealed Islamic radicals who had fought in Chechnya, Afghanistan and Bosnia had slipped into the country. Foreign governments, including the US and Britain, cautioned that terrorists could strike again and issued travel warnings to their citizens. The warnings came as the first funerals of those killed in Thursday’s attack on the British Consulate and the Turkish headquarters of the HSBC bank were carried out. The pain felt by relatives of those who died was compounded by the knowledge that the suicide bombers who carried out the attacks were fellow Turks.
| I wonder what the reaction would have been had the suicide bombers been Soddies? |
Investigators identified them as Azad Ekinci and Feridun Ugurlu. Reports earlier this week named Ekinci and Ugurlu as accomplices in the synagogue bombings, saying the men used fake identities and cash to buy the pickup trucks containing the bombs. Ekinci is said to have travelled to Iran, received military and explosives training in Pakistan between 1997-99 and fought in Chechnya.
| That bit about travelling to Iran interests me. They keep mentioning it... |
Turkey’s top political and military leaders met on Friday to discuss intelligence reports that Turks who fought in places such as Afghanistan may be in league with al-Qaida.
Outside the shattered HSBC headquarters, workers used a bulldozer to scoop up burned and twisted pieces of metal and crushed office furniture. In front of the consulate, much of the rubble had already been cleared away. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who rushed to Istanbul following the attack on the consulate, said the city may have been selected "because Turkey is a successful democracy." |