Posted on 11/21/2003 8:29:52 AM PST by TexKat
TOKYO - World leaders tightened security and issued travel advisories on Friday as they condemned separate suicide bombing attacks five days apart in Istanbul, Turkey, that killed at least 50 people.
The bombings — which targeted two synagogues on Saturday and then the British consulate and a London-based bank on Thursday — brought renewed pledges to combat terrorism and calls for new vigilance. Iran's leader said they contradict the teachings of Islam.
Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said the attacks were meant to "throw society into confusion," adding that the world must not give in to such threats. His sentiments were echoed by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the leading ally of President Bush in the Iraq war.
The attacks on Thursday coincided with Bush's trip to Britain and were blamed on al-Qaida.
Four of the 16 dead at the consulate were British, including Consul-General Roger Short and his personal assistant, Lisa Hallworth.
"There must be no holding back, no compromise, no hesitation in confronting this menace, in attacking it wherever and whenever we can and in defeating it utterly," Blair said.
Thursday's truck-bomb blasts at London-based HSBC Bank and the British consulate in Istanbul killed at least 27 people and injured another 450. They came after two suicide bombers struck two Istanbul synagogues Saturday, killing 23. Both attacks were blamed on al-Qaida or their sympathizers.
German police erected barriers around the British Embassy in downtown Berlin Thursday and police surveillance in Antwerp's Jewish neighborhood in Belgium was stepped up after the weekend attacks. Similar measures were taken in other nations.
Security in Europe already had been increased around many potential targets such as embassies and synagogues since Saturday, and the new attacks only heightened fears.
Germany's top intelligence official said Osama bin Laden continues to play an important role in mobilizing resurgent al-Qaida activists, who are rallying around the U.S. occupation of Iraq.
"Now they are once again able to carry out attacks on a major scale," said August Hanning, head of the Federal Intelligence Service.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar told the national news agency Bernama that the attack "clearly goes against the teachings of Islam" and that "Islam should not be linked at all to such acts."
Iranian President Mohammad Khatami said the same. His foreign minister, Kamal Kharrazi, still faulted heavy-handed U.S. foreign policy for inspiring a backlash.
In an apparent reference to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, Kharrazi was quoted by the country's official news agency as saying "current developments in the region have prepared the ground for certain groups to resort to such activities."
Britain's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, speaking to British Broadcasting Corp. radio from Istanbul, said it was "utter and palpable nonsense" for critics to suggest a link between U.S.-British efforts in Iraq and Thursday's bombings.
"We were all victims of terrorism months and years before we made a separate and distinct decision to take military action in Iraq," Straw said.
Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, a staunch supporter of the U.S.-led campaign against terrorism, said "the world is at war," and added: "Our people must drive this deep into their consciousness so that our day-to-day vigilance and alertness will not wane."
Several countries advised against traveling to Turkey, including Britain and the United States. Australia and New Zealand warned of new attacks in the country.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard said he was "horrified" by the attacks; New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said she was "shocked and appalled."
A spokesman for Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the Australian Consulate in Istanbul had been temporarily closed and all staff sent home.
In Cairo, Egyptian authorities increased security around the HSBC's headquarters and ordered cars removed from the area. Hong Kong police also beefed up security outside HSBC bank, Hong Kong's biggest, and the British consulate. But despite the precautions, Hong Kong officials said an attack in their territory was unlikely.
From the Vatican, Pope John Paul II said he was praying for the victims and their families, and renewed his condemnation of terrorism.
"Murderous violence constitutes a contempt of people and ridicules humanity," the pope said.
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