Posted on 11/21/2003 2:31:32 AM PST by Straight Vermonter
Several people have been arrested in connection with the two devastating bomb attacks on British targets in Istanbul, the Turkish foreign minister said.
Twenty-seven people were killed and hundreds wounded on Thursday in truck bomb attacks on the British consulate and the London-based global bank HSBC.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the attacks bore all the hallmarks of the al-Qaida network.
"Some people have been arrested but it's too early to give any information about them," said Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul at a joint news conference with Straw in Istanbul on Friday.
Turkish daily Hurriyet said on Friday seven people had been arrested over Thursday's blasts, which it said were carried out by Turkish bombers.
Challenge
The strikes coincided with a visit to Britain by US President George Bush and appeared to mark a direct challenge to the two leading forces in the occupation of Iraq.
But British and US leaders, as well as Gul, said they would not give in to the attacks.
Asked whether there were any specific leads pointing to al-Qaida, Straw replied: "What I said was they appear to have been perpetrated by al-Qaida and its associates. More detailed information about who precisely caused this is still coming forward from the investigation."
Among the victims of the attack, which came five days after a double suicide lorry bombing against Istanbul synagogues that killed 25, was British Consul-General Roger Short.
An Istanbul police spokesman said there had been no specific warning before the bombings.
"Turkey has a long history of dealing with homegrown terrorism and has always gone about it with a successful, though somewhat, heavy hand. And those tactics have yielded positive results.
Turkey has had to deal with terrorist activity emanating from its Marxist-Leninist extreme left, Kurdish separatists and Armenian nationalists. And in all instances they have managed to ferret out and cause severe harm to those who have tried to undermine the Turkish state." [snip]
The islamists have met their match in the Turks. Of all the law enforcement agencies in the world, the last one you want to be interrogated by are these folks.
Turkey Says Several Arrested After BlastsNov. 21 — By Brian Williams
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey said on Friday it had arrested several people in connection with twin truck bomb attacks on British targets in Istanbul that killed 27 people, including Britain's top diplomat in the city.
A statement purporting to come from a unit of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network said it carried out Thursday's strikes on the British consulate and the London-based banking giant HSBC, five days after two similar strikes on synagogues here.
"Some people have been arrested but it's too early to give any information about them," Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul told a news conference, declining to give further details.
The Turkish daily Hurriyet said on Friday that seven people had been arrested over the second pair of blasts, which it said were carried out by Turkish suicide bombers. A spokesman at the Istanbul governor's incident room could not confirm the report.
The twin blasts killed 27 people, including British Consul General Roger Short, and wounded more than 400 others.
On Saturday two Istanbul synagogues were devastated by suicide truck bombs that killed 25 and wounded 300, making this the worst week of peacetime violence in Turkey's modern history.
Britain has warned more terror attacks may target Turkey, NATO's only Muslim member and one of Washington's closest allies. Washington has long promoted Turkey as a model for a moderate Muslim democracy.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who visited both bomb sites after arriving in Istanbul late on Thursday, said Britain stood side by side with its NATO ally.
"We who represent the civilized world are facing a global threat and we have to deal with it in a global way. This was as much an attack on the Turkish people as it was upon British interests, and we stand together with Turkey in this," Straw told a joint news conference with Gul.
A NATO statement in Brussels also voiced its support.
"NATO also expresses its full and unwavering solidarity to its two Allies, Turkey and the United Kingdom, which have been targeted in this latest act of terrorism," it said.
FRESH AL QAEDA CLAIM
A statement apparently from a unit of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, the Abu Hafz al-Masri Brigades, said it had carried out the latest attacks. The same group earlier claimed responsibility for the synagogue bombings.
A Turkish group called the Islamic Great Eastern Raiders Front (IBDA-C) has also claimed joint responsibility with al Qaeda for all four Istanbul attacks, and warned the network was planning more strikes against the United States and its allies.
Straw said the bombings would bolster rather than harm Turkey's prospects of joining the European Union, with which Ankara hopes to start full membership talks after the EU reviews its progress on human rights reforms late next year.
"This atrocity...simply strengthens our will and determination to do anything we can to ensure that Turkey becomes a full member as soon as possible," he said.
The blasts cast a pall over President Bush's talks with Prime Minister Tony Blair in London and left Istanbul, a city bridging Europe and Asia, shaken and fearful.
"Al Qaeda is at war with Turkey," was the headline in Radikal newspaper as Istanbul awoke, shrouded in thick fog.
Britain, the United States and Australia -- allies in the Iraq war -- told their citizens to either stay away from the teeming city of 12 million or keep the lowest of profiles.
Some foreign firms sent Turkey-based staff home while other major corporations arranged for staff to leave the country.
Other firms were expected to take similar action following a warning from Britain that more attacks could be planned.
British police chief John Stevens said 16 officers from an anti-terrorism squad were traveling to Turkey to join the investigation. "We will be looking at analyzing if what has happened in Turkey has any relevance to us here," Stevens said.
Thursday's double strike shocked world markets, already on edge after al Qaeda's warning earlier this week of more attacks.
In New York, the dollar and stocks sank and investors fled to the relative safety of gold and government debt. Security fears weighed on the European stock market mood on Friday.
Istanbul's stock exchange remained closed on Friday after halting trade following the blasts, which sent the index diving 7.37 percent. Turkish debt prices slipped and the lira wobbled. (Additional reporting by Claudia Parsons in Istanbul)
Or they picked up the usual suspects. Who are probably guilty.
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