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Europe

More on the NATO summit plot

2004-05-04

A Turkish court Monday charged nine suspected members of a group linked to Al Qaeda with plotting to bomb the NATO summit scheduled next month in Turkey's largest city, Istanbul. Turkey's CNN-Turk television news channel said at least three of the suspects had been planning a suicide bomb attack against President Bush, who will be among dozens of Western leaders expected to attend the June 28-29 gathering. The charges came after police arrested at least 25 suspected members of a terrorist cell last week in raids in Bursa and Istanbul. Seven of those detained in Bursa were released Monday after interrogation. Nine questioned in Istanbul also have been released. Turkish officials said the nine charged in Bursa were members of Ansar al Islam, but it was unclear whether it was the same group with that name formed by ethnic Kurds in Iraq's mountainous northern region.

My guess would be that it's probably al-Tawhid or one of al-Qaeda's homegrown Turkish appendages, though there were reports of Ansar sneaking into Turkey a while back. Be interesting to see whether or not this bunch is as connected to Iran as the Istanbooms mob.

Oguz Kagan Koksal, the local governor, told a news conference that police had searched the Bursa suspects' homes where equipment and manuals on how to make remote-controlled bombs were seized. Scores of rifles and handguns as well as videotapes showing Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden training militants at a camp in Afghanistan were also found. Koksal said those arrested had also planned to attack a synagogue in Bursa before going to Iraq to fight U.S. soldiers. U.S. and Iraqi Kurdish intelligence sources have tied Ansar al Islam to Al Qaeda and say the Kurdish group has shifted its operations to the northern Iraqi cities of Kirkuk and Mosul after U.S. forces attacked its mountain bases last year. "The connection between Ansar al Islam and Turkey is new," said a Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity. "We are aware, however, of small groups of Turks fighting alongside Iraqis against the Americans" in Iraq, the diplomat said.

The connection between Turkey and Kurds isn't new. I'd think it would be a preferred target of Kurdish nutbags...

Concerns about security have grown since November, when more than 50 people were killed in four suicide bomb attacks against British and Jewish targets in Istanbul, a city of 10 million people. The four men who carried out the attacks are said to have been ethnic Kurds from an Islamist stronghold in southeastern Turkey who may have had ties to Al Qaeda. Police investigations revealed that most of the perpetrators had either been trained or fought alongside Islamic militants in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Russian breakaway republic of Chechnya, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Muammer Guler, the governor of Istanbul, insisted that his city was secure and that the NATO summit would go ahead as planned. "We have taken all precautions; we are in full control," he said.

Famous last words...

Posted by:Dan Darling

#3 16 of 25 released? What?

It's not like they're Kurds or anything.

Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-05-04 2:55:10 PM

#2 The charges came after police arrested at least 25 suspected members of a terrorist cell last week in raids in Bursa and Istanbul. Seven of those detained in Bursa were released Monday after interrogation. Nine questioned in Istanbul also have been released.

16 of 25 released? What?

Koksal said those arrested had also planned to attack a synagogue in Bursa before going to Iraq to fight U.S. soldiers.

Attack a synagogue before going to Iraq to fight US? Geez they talk about it as though it is spring training before baseball season.

I hope these bastards are being watched closely.
(CIA where are you?)

Istanbul / Constantinople NATO meeting. I don't have a warm & fuzzy feeling about this.

Especially since it is right before the "handover" to the IGC of Iraqi Administration.

Posted by: BigEd 2004-05-04 2:30:39 PM

#1 As a side note, this could be used as another bullet point in the "undesirable" category with regards to Turkey's desire for EU membership. Ask Jacques for further details.

Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2004-05-04 2:02:16 PM

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