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Turkey Makes Arrests in Suicide Bombings
EFL:Turkish investigators on Friday arrested suspects in the deadly suicide bombings on the British consulate and a London-based bank that have been blamed on al-Qaida. Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul confirmed the arrests but would not give details or say how the suspects were linked to Thursdayâs blasts. The attacks came five days after suicide bombers hit two synagogues in Istanbul. The daily newspaper Hurriyet said police were interrogating seven people in the attacks, which killed at least 27 people. The paper also said police believe the suicide bombers were two Turkish men linked to the perpetrators of the synagogue attacks, which killed 23 people. So they believe both attacks were made by the same group. Hurriyet quoted police sources as tentatively identifying the two bombers in Thursdayâs attack as Azad Ekinci, 27, and Feridun Ugurlu, whose age was not immediately known. The pair had been named in earlier Turkish newspaper reports as having links with the synagogue bombings. Hurriyet said Ekinci and Ugurlu traveled to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates on Oct. 28 and identified Ekinci as a schoolmate of one of the men suspected in the synagogue attacks. These are the two guys that Dubai said yesterday they had no record of entering the country. Maybe they had Pak passports like one of the synagogue bombers. Earlier reports said Ekinci had traveled to Iran, received military and explosive training in Pakistan between 1997-99 and fought in the breakaway Russian republic of Chechnya. Thatâs a al-Qaida hallmark, heâd be at least a close friend if not a member. An unidentified caller to the semiofficial Anatolia news agency said al-Qaida and a small militant Turkish group, the Islamic Great Eastern Raidersâ Front jointly claimed responsibility for both sets of attacks. Hurriyet reported that police in front of the consulate opened fire as the men approached the consulate, but failed to stop them before they detonated the explosives. Two of the dead where Turkish policemen. Authorities arrested six people Wednesday in the synagogue bombings. A court charged five with "attempting to overthrow the constitutional structure," which carries a sentence of life imprisonment. The sixth was charged with "helping illegal organizations," punishable by five years in prison, Anatolia said. No trial date was set. The two suicide bombers who attacked the synagogues were identified as Turks who Gul said had visited Afghanistan. Al-Qaida and the Turkish IBDA-C also claimed responsibility for that blast. Posted by: Steve 2003-11-21 |
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