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Turkey synagogues bombing attacks Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20031116/D7URQMC00.htmlhttp://apnews.myway.com/article/20031116/D7URQMC00.html
Turkey Bombings Likely Suicide Attacks
Nov 16, 11:51 AM (ET)
By JAMES C. HELICKE
ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) - Israeli and Turkish investigators combed the wreckage of two bombed synagogues Sunday, with early evidence showing the explosions during Sabbath morning prayers were highly organized suicide attacks - possibly the work of al-Qaida or other international terrorist groups.
Forensic experts found more human remains among the rubble, raising the death toll for Saturday's truck bombings to 23. Of the more than 300 wounded, 71 people remained hospitalized Sunday afternoon.
One forensic specialist, Dr. Keramettin Kurt, said two bodies were found with wire contrivances on them, according to the daily Millyet newspaper. That suggests suicide attackers might have detonated the explosive-laden pickup trucks as they drove past the buildings.
Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom flew to Istanbul to show solidarity with the small Sephardic Jewish community in this predominantly Muslim nation, which is an ally of Israel and the United States.
"These attacks against prayers were cowardly attacks carried out by extremists who don't want to see countries that are sharing values of democracy, freedom and rule of law," Shalom said.
While at least six Jews were among the dead, most of the victims were Muslims passing by the synagogues when the bombs went off, a few minutes and three miles apart.
Standing by the side of Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul on the front steps of a local government building, Shalom expressed his condolences to families of the Muslim victims.
The ministers told reporters it was too early to talk about the investigation, but details, cited by Turkish media, indicated the near-simultaneous attacks were the work of meticulous, long-range planning.
The semiofficial Anatolia news agency quoted senior police official as saying each pickup truck was packed with some 880 pounds of explosives, a mix of ammonium sulfate, nitrate and compressed fuel oil. The explosives had been hidden in containers wrapped in sacks and surrounded by detergent containers, Anatolia said.
The license plates on the trucks were fake.
Bits of flesh found on the steering wheel of one of the trucks were a genetic match to one of the two bodies with wires on them, Anatolia reported - further suggesting the attack was by suicide bombers.
The news agency reported that four people were questioned about the attacks and were released after authorities concluded they were not linked to the bombings.
In Israel, police spokesman Gil Kleiman said Israel sent two explosives and two forensics experts to Turkey on Saturday night.
The experts will enter the type of explosives and other evidence into a database to try to learn the identity of the attackers or source of the bomb materials, a high-ranking Israeli police source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Shalom visitied Istanbul's chief rabbi, Isak Haleva, who was slightly wounded in the bombings and laid wreaths in the rubble outside the two synagogue and before heading to the airport comforted some of the wounded in American Hospital.
Turks, kept behind security barriers by police, tossed white carnations in a sign of condolence.
One of the blasts tore apart the facade of Neve Shalom - Istanbul's biggest synagogue and the symbolic center of Turkey's 25,000-member Jewish community. At the time, hundreds were at teh synagogue to celebrate a bar mitzvah, the coming-of-age ceremony for a young man. However, all of the Jews who died and most of the wounded were attending services at Beth Israel, a temple in an affluent neighborhood.
Authorities were skeptical about a Turkish radical Islamic group's claim that it carried out the bombings, questioning whether it was capable of carrying out such carefully coordinated attacks. Instead, Turkish officials said intelligence suggested al-Qaida may have been planning attacks inside their country.
"We were informed that both vehicles paused and exploded in front of the synagogues," Gul said on Saturday. Security keeps people from parking outside the synagogues, among precautions started after a Palestinian gunman killed 22 people at Neve Shalom in 1986.
Al-Qaida is thought to have carried out an April 2002 vehicle bombing at a historic synagogue on the Tunisian resort island of Djerba that killed 21 people, mostly foreign tourists.
Shalom, in an interview with Israel's Army Radio from Istanbul, was cautious about assigning blame.
"From what is being said here, the direction is more to al-Qaida according to the Turkish government, but this hasn't been finalized. There are things that still need to be investigated," Shalom said.
Turkish daily Radikal reported that the Israeli intelligence service Mossad had warned Turkish intelligence units twice about attack plans.
The first warning came in April, when Mossad reportedly said that al-Qaida was planning to attack the Neve Shalom and other synagogues, as well as U.S. British and Israeli consulates in Turkey, Radikal said.
A second Mossad warning, that al-Qaida was planning attacks on Israeli and U.S. citizens in Turkey, came in September, Radikal reported.
Turkey, a secular nation that is NATO's only Muslim member and a close U.S. ally, enjoys warm relations with Israel. Turkey and Israel have carried out joint military exercise, and Turkey in 1948 became the first Muslim country to recognize the Jewish state.
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