Turkey Breaks Up Al Qaeda Cell Behind Blasts
Turkish authorities have broken up the Istanbul cell behind last month’s truck bombings and have confirmed its links to Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda network, the city’s governor said Friday. The four blasts targeted two synagogues and British interests in Turkey’s commercial capital, killing 61 people and wounded several hundred. It was the worst week of peacetime violence in modern Turkey’s history. “The suicide attacks were carried out by elements trying to organize for al Qaeda in Turkey,” governor Muammer Guler told a news conference in Istanbul, held to announce progress in the investigation. “We can comfortably say that we have broken up the organization’s Istanbul activities,” he said. In the wake of the attacks, the United States and Britain warned against non-essential travel to NATO ally Turkey. President Bush said Turkey had become a key battle front in the “war on terror.” Full Story