ANKARA Ñ Al Qaida has been suspected of carrying out suicide attacks
against two synagogues in Turkey.
The car bombings on Saturday led to more than 23 people killed in the
Turkish city of Istanbul. Authorities said more than 250 people were
injured.
Al Qaida did not claim responsibility. Instead, a Turkish Islamist group
with ties to Iran Ñ the Islamic Great Eastern Raiders/Front Ñ claimed
responsibility in a call to Turkey's semi-official Anatolian news agency, Middle East Newsline reported.
Turkish officials said they believed Al Qaida was behind the attack. But
they said they do not have any immediate evidence.
The car bombings were expected in Turkey. Officials said they received an
alert in October that Al Qaida had targeted Israeli, U.S. and Jewish targets
in Turkey.
"It is clear that this is a terrorist event with international links,"
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said.
"It is difficult for any Turkey-based organization to carry out an attack
of this magnitude," Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu said."We believe they
contained the same kind of explosives. They are the same kind of terror
attacks."
The two synagogues were heavily protected and many of the casualties were
pedestrians. At least one police officer stationed near one of the
synagogues was killed.
On late Saturday, security sources said that two men and a woman had
been arrested suspected of being involved in the attack. The woman was
wearing the traditional Islamic head covering, the source said.
