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Sakra cracks, sez Zarqawi's in northern Iraq
Ah, the wonders of Turkish interrogation techniques ...A suspected al Qaeda militant arrested by Turkish police last week was quoted on Sunday as saying Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, one of America's most wanted men, was hiding in northern Iraq. Luia Sakra, charged by a Turkish court last Thursday with plotting to bomb Israeli cruise boats in southern Turkey, said he had met Zarqawi in Iraq, the Referans daily said. Jordanian-born Zarqawi, head of al-Qaeda in Iraq, has been behind some of the deadliest attacks against U.S. troops, the Baghdad government and forces and Shi'ite Muslims. Referans also quoted Sakra, a Syrian-born bomb-making expert, as saying he had received training with explosives in camps run by al-Qaeda in northern Iraq. Turkish security sources have said Sakra is the top figure in Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network in Turkey. He is also thought to have played a key role in bombings in Istanbul in November 2003 that killed more than 60 people. Referans quoted Sakra as saying he had no idea where bin Laden was but that he would not tell even if he did know. Sakra's lawyer has denied his client has any connection with al Qaeda and insists he was acting alone in planning the attacks on the Israeli cruise boats. Israel diverted a number of vessels from Turkey last week and urged its citizens to avoid Turkey's popular southern coast, citing "concrete and grave terror threats". Israel has since lifted its travel warning. Turkish media have also reported this weekend that police found a large cache of weapons at a villa recently bought by Sakra and an accomplice in the Mediterranean resort of Antalya where the two men had reportedly lived with three women. The top-selling Hurriyet daily quoted Sakra as saying he did not pray but that he liked to drink whisky and wine. Sakra was apprehended last Sunday in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir while trying to board a plane under an assumed name for Istanbul, security sources said. He had undergone plastic surgery and was returning to Istanbul for another operation, they said. Posted by: Dan Darling 2005-08-14 |
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