Assassination plot (against Bush & Blair at NATO Summit) foiled by Turkey

AN al-Qaeda plot to blow up Tony Blair, George Bush and up to FIFTY other world leaders has been foiled.

Cops in Turkey yesterday unveiled a huge arsenal of weapons and explosives found stashed in preparation for a terror doomsday.

And they believe the aim was to wipe out the West’s commanders of the War on Terror in an outrage that would dwarf the impact of September 11.

Simultaneous raids led to 25 members of the fanatical Islamist group Ansar al-Islam being arrested.

Nine were held in biggest city Istanbul and 16 in Bursa, a town 160 miles south.

Cops seized guns, explosives and bomb-making booklets, along with 4,000 compact discs giving training by al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden.

There were also timing dev-ices linked to mobile phones — like those used in the Madrid bombings — and fake ID cards.

Nine of those held in Bursa were last night charged with being members of an illegal organisation, an offence which can carry a ten-year sentence.

Turkish TV reported that three had also been charged with plotting a suicide attack on the summit, but officials would not confirm this.

The other 16 suspects were questioned and released. It was not clear if they might still face charges later.

Security chiefs in Turkey have been on high alert since last year’s truck bomb assaults on the British Embassy in Istanbul and Jewish targets, which killed 61 people.

Ansar al-Islam are militants from Kurdish northern Iraq accused by the US of being an al-Qaeda splinter group.

Bursa’s governor Oguz Kagan Koksal said the arrests followed a year of surveillance.

The suspects were plotting a bank robbery to finance their operations and were involved in pirating PC software for cash.

Last night Nato said its two-day summit, which will discuss Iraq, will still go ahead as planned on June 28.

A spokeswoman said: “The Turkish authorities are responsible for security and we have confidence in them.”

Turkey is the only predominantly Muslim Nato member and is viewed as a prime target for Islamist groups because of close ties with the US.

The article was in other papers too, so it's confirmed.

Turks foil plot to bomb Nato summit
By Amberin Zaman in Ankara
(Filed: 04/05/2004)

Turkish police said yesterday they had foiled a bomb attack planned by a group linked to al-Qa'eda against western leaders meeting in Istanbul next month.

Nine people appeared in court after police arrested at least 16 suspected members of a terrorist cell in Bursa, north-western Turkey, thought to be a part of the al-Qa'eda network.

Suspected terrorists are escorted to court in Bursa Oguz Kagan, the governor of Bursa, told a news conference earlier that police had seized large amounts of equipment to make remote-controlled bombs and books on how to assemble them in raids across the city.

Scores of rifles, handguns and videotapes showing Osama bin Laden training militants at a camp in Afghanistan were also found.

The suspects were believed to have been planning a series of attacks to coincide with the two-day Nato summit scheduled to begin in Istanbul on June 28. President George W Bush and Tony Blair are expected to attend.

Turkish officials said all of the suspects were members of a group called Ansar al-Islam.

Another article:

Turkey Foils Plot to Bomb Nato Summit Attended by Blair and Bush

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2873643

Turkey claimed today it had foiled a plot by al-Qaida linked militants to launch a bomb attack on a Nato summit in Istanbul next month that Tony Blair and George Bush are to attend.

Sixteen men linked, suspected members of Ansar al-Islam, a group linked to Osama bin Laden’s terror network, appeared in a Turkish provincial court today where the local governor said the attack plan has been “rendered ineffective.”

The men were arrested in an operation last Thursday in the north-western province of Bursa, said Governor Oguz Kagan Koksal. The suspects were also planning to attack a synagogue in Bursa and rob a bank to raise funds for the group, he said.

Nine others were detained in a simultaneous raid in Istanbul. They were questioned today, but later released, officials said.

The crackdown on the group comes amid heightened security in Turkey in the run-up to the summit on June 28/29, following a string of bombings in Istanbul in November.

More than 60 people were killed when suspected members of a Turkish al-Qaida cell bombed two synagogues, a London-based bank and the British Consulate. Turkish officials have charged 69 suspects in connection with the bombings. Their trial starts later this month.

Istanbul’s governor, Muammer Guler, insisted today that the city, which will also host the Eurovision song contest later this month, and a meeting of foreign ministers from Islamic countries in June, is safe.

“There is no question of a situation that will affect the Nato meeting,” Guler said. “We have taken every precaution.”

The 16 arrested men, believed to be member of the al-Qaida linked group Ansar al-Islam, today appeared in a Bursa court, where they face charges including membership in a terrorist group, possession of explosives, violating gun laws and holding fake identity documents.

Koksal said the suspects in Bursa were caught following yearlong police surveillance.

The group’s leader, identified as Alpaslan Toprak, was among those held, he said. Television footage showed him being escorted by police, grinning.

Koksal said police also seized equipment to make remote-controlled bombs, guns, books on bomb-making, forged identity documents and CDs that served as training manuals.

“The group, which was in the middle of an attack plan, has been rendered ineffective,” the governor said.

Some of the suspects surveyed the site of a synagogue in Bursa as well as that of a bank, Koksal said.

He said the suspects planned to flee to Iraq to fight US troops there once they had carried out a major attack in Turkey.

An Islamic group based in northern Iraq also goes by the name Ansar al-Islam and is suspected of bombings in Irbil that left 109 dead in February.

A police official said the Turkish group and the northern Iraq group shared “the same ideology and tactics.” The Turkish group increased in size following in reaction to the US war in Iraq, the official said.

Dogu Ergil, a professor of political science at Ankara University said such plots were not unusual ahead of high profile events like the Nato summit.

“The stage is important. The number of spectators is important. The Nato summit in Istanbul is an ideal stage for such a terrorist act to be staged,” he said.

Earlier this month, authorities rounded up dozens of alleged members of the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front, or DHKP-C, in simultaneous raids in Turkey, Italy, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.

The crackdown was seen as the results of increased international security cooperation before the Nato summit and the Athens Summer Olympics.

According to Turkish newspapers, more than 30,000 police and other security forces, including hundreds of snipers, are expected to be on duty at the summit. Police are also reportedly keeping a close eye on anti-war, anti-globalisation, and various leftist groups ahead of the summit, fearing they could stage protests or attacks.

The NATO summit will be the first since Romania, Bulgaria, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Slovenia and Slovakia joined the alliance in April to increase its membership to 26 countries

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