Posted on 11/16/2003 12:35:14 AM PST by yonif
A Turkish newspaper reported on Sunday morning that local police had arrested three suspects in connection with Saturday's bomb attack on two synagogues in Istanbul. Israel Radio reported that the paper, Jumhuriet, had identified the suspects as two men and a woman. The woman was also said to be wearing a traditional Muslim headscarf, which is quite uncommon in the mostly secular Muslim state.
A spokesman for Istanbul police would only say that the investigation into the bombing, which killed at least 23 people and wounded some 308, was continuing. He refused to comment on the report of the arrests.
In addition, Israel Radio also said that a Saudi newspaper reported on Sunday that the U.S. had passed on information to Turkish authorities some two months ago, warning that terrorists could strike at Israeli or American targets in the country. The paper, al-Watan, said that the U.S. had warned that members of an Islamic extremist group had crossed into Turkey from either Iran or Iraq.
Israeli security officials meanwhile arrived in Turkey late Saturday night and were examining the sites of the double bombing.
The Israeli team will assist local investigators and will also advise other Israeli and Jewish institutions in the country on security measures.
Israeli security officials believe that Al-Qaida, or some affiliated Islamic extremist group, was responsible for the attacks. Hezbollah is not believed to be behind the attack.
Al-Qaida is the main suspected, despite a claim by a militant Turkish Islamic group, widely believed to be backed by Iran, that it was responsible for the blasts.
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom flew to Turkey on Sunday to meet with his Turkish counterpart, Abdullah Gul and leaders of the Istanbul Jewish community.
"An attack of this scope," a senior Israeli security official told Haaretz, "was apparently planned by a large international terror organization... We are talking about Al-Qaida, or something similar to it. Local extremists in Turkey also probably contributed to the attack."
Turkish officials also said Al-Qaida might have had a hand in the attacks. "It is clear that this is a terrorist event with international links," Foreign Minister Gul said. Turkish Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu also said that he could not rule out an Al-Qaida link to the explosions.
According to the Jewish Agency, six of those killed in the blasts - including an eight-year-old girl - and 80 of those injured have been identified as Jews. The explosions went off at around 9:30 A.M. on Saturday morning.
Among the dead are a security guard who stood in front of one of the synagogues, identified as Yoel Cohen Ulcer, 19, and a police officer. The Jewish Agency identified the Jews who were killed at the Beth Israel synagogue as Ulcer; Anet Rubinstein, 8, and her grandmother, Anna Rubinstein, 85; Beto Avraham Varol, about 45; and Yona Romano, about 55. Berta Ozdogan, 35, who Army Radio reported was four months pregnant, was killed in the blast at the Neve Shalom synagogue.
The Jewish victims of the attack will be laid to rest on Tuesday.
Turkish police said the explosive-laden vehicles used in the attacks were not driven by suicide bombers, but Gul later said he believed the attacks were the work of suicide bombers.
In a telephone call to the Anatolia news agency, a caller claiming to be from the Great Eastern Islamic Raiders' Front said the militant group was responsible for the attacks, and promised more. The caller said "the attacks would continue in the future and the reason was that to prevent the oppression against Muslims," Anatolia said.
Police have accused the group, also known as IBDA-C, for a bombing attack which injured 10 people in downtown Istanbul on December 31, 2000. However, no one has claimed responsibility for that attack.
Images recorded by surveillance cameras positioned at the Neve Shalom synagogue show an individual parking a red car outside the synagogue and then leaving the area, Israel Radio reported. According to Turkish media, the car exploded shortly afterward.
One explosion went off outside the Neve Shalom synagogue, the city's largest. The other severely damaged the Beth Israel synagogue in the affluent district of Sisli, 5 kilometers away, where members of the city's tiny Jewish community live.
Twisted metals, shattered windows and debris from partly collapsed synagogues and nearby buildings filled the streets. The scent of smoke and burned bodies filled the air.
Television footage showed medical teams carrying away several people, some with bloodied or charred faces. Private NTV television showed the twisted wreckage of a car and a huge crater in front of the Neve Shalom synagogue.
Sadettin Gul, an eyewitness, said, "It was like a war zone."
It was also reported that many people were sick from ammonia inhalation, possibly related to the attack.
Magen David Adom rescue service offered to send medics, blood donations, and equipment to help Turkish rescue workers and medical services.
Shalom condemned the attacks, suggesting that the negative way in which Israel is portrayed in Europe ultimately contributes to attacks of this kind.
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan vowed to avenge the attacks. "I condemn this act as an act of terror against humanity," Erdogan told reporters on an official visit to northern Cyprus.
The Neve Shalom synagogue is the most important spiritual center for Istanbul's 20,000 Jews. In 1986, gunmen, believed to be Palestinians, attacked the synagogue, killing 22 worshippers and wounding six during a Sabbath service.
In 1992, the Iranian-backed Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah carried out a bomb attack against the same synagogue but no one was injured. Another 5,000 Jews live elsewhere in predominantly Muslim Turkey.
Jewish sites have been targeted in recent attacks blamed on militants linked to Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaida - notably in Casablanca, Morocco, in May and a Tunisian synagogue bombed in April 2002, that killed 20 people, mainly German tourists.
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