Posted on 12/02/2003 10:00:10 AM PST by yonif
Two key suspects in the series of suicide bombings in Istanbul that killed 61 people met with and took instructions from Osama bin Laden's right-hand man, newspapers reported Tuesday, a day after the government made its strongest statement linking the bombers to al-Qaida.
Hurriyet newspaper, quoting from the testimony of one of the suspects, said main suspects Habib Aktas and Azad Ekinci met with bin Laden's top surviving lieutenant, Ayman al-Zawahiri, several times. The two Turks are suspected of hatching the plans for the Nov. 15 suicide bombings against two synagogues and on the British Consulate and a British bank five days later.
"They were the only ones to meet with Al-Zawahiri," Hurriyet quoted the man, identified as Yusuf Polat, as telling police during questioning. "The instructions came from him. They would meet (with him) at least three times a year, using false identity documents."
Milliyet and Zaman newspapers carried similar reports. Police would not comment on the reports.
The reports came a day after Deputy Prime Minister Abdullatif Sener told reporters following a Cabinet meeting that "those who were involved in these terrorist attacks as suicide bombers, and those who had relations with them ... are linked to the al-Qaida terrorist organization."
At least three claims of responsibility for the bombings purportedly came from al-Qaida. The government had been hesitant to name al-Qaida and Sener's statement was the first time the government outright linked the attacks to bin Laden's network.
Al-Zawahiri, an Egyptian doctor, is believed to be bin Laden's chief deputy.
The man identified as Polat was captured while trying to travel to Iran and charged over the weekend with a crime equivalent to treason. Newspapers have said he confessed to belonging to a small al-Qaida cell in Turkey. Police said he surveyed the site for one of the synagogue bombings and gave the go-ahead for the attack. The man's arrest was the most prominent to date in the investigation into the attacks.
Police believe that Aktas, Ekinci and four other suspected ringleaders of a Turkish cell linked to al-Qaida, fled abroad just before the attacks, Cumhuriyet newspaper reported.
Newspapers had initially erroneously identified Ekinci as one of the suicide bombers. Some reports spell his first name Azat.
On Sunday, Syria handed over 22 suspects in the bombing at Turkey's request. Two of the suspects _ a husband and wife _ were brought to Ankara for questioning by anti-terrorism police on Tuesday after a preliminary interrogated by police in the southern city of Antakya, near Syria.
The Anatolia new agency said the man, identified as Hilmi Tugluoglu, had met with Ekinci on numerous occasions. It said Tugluoglu, who sells computer equipment in Ankara, had traveled to Afghanistan twice and Pakistan once.
More than 130 people have been detained so far in connection to the bombings and 21 people - including Polat - have been charged, most with aiding or membership in an illegal organization.
On Monday, a Moroccan source told The Associated Press in Rabat that a senior al-Qaida operative suspected of ordering a deadly terrorist attack in Casablanca earlier this year may also have been behind bombings in Turkey.
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, whom the CIA has described as a close associate of Osama bin Laden, is believed to have played a role in attacks in Istanbul, said the source, who asked not to be identified.
Al-Zarqawi was identified by Moroccan authorities in July as the mastermind of a wave of suicide bombings that killed 33 bystanders and 12 suicide bombers in Casablanca in May.
On Sunday, Syria handed over 22 suspects in the bombing at Turkey's request. Two of the suspects _ a husband and wife _ were brought to Ankara for questioning by anti-terrorism police on Tuesday after a preliminary interrogated by police in the southern city of Antakya, near Syria.
One can only imagine the questioning skills of Ankara's anti-terrorism police
al Zawahiri, author of Sadat's assassination, the raid on Luxor, and the attack on the Word Trade Center is #2 to no man.
He is as important or more so than Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden would be nothing more than a wealthy agitator without al Zawahiri, who has always favored direct militant action.
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