A Turkish state security court Monday began hearing a case against 69 suspects indicted over four massive suicide attacks in Istanbul in November, blamed on a local cell of the Al-Qaeda terrorist network. The two sets of car bombings, the worst terrorist incidents in Turkish history, targeted two synagogues on November 15 and the British consulate and the British-based HSBC bank on November 20, claiming 63 lives, including British consul Roger Short. More than 600 people were wounded in the explosions, which also caused massive destruction and sent shockwaves throughout the predominantly Muslim but strictly secular country. The opening of the trial was mired in a legal controversy as lawyers for the defense declared the court incompetent on the grounds that state security courts had recently been abolished as part of constitutional reforms. Full Story
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