Synagogue bombings in Turkey

[auswegian]

Newspapers given al-Qaeda statements

November 17, 2003 - 11:17AM

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Two newspapers received separate statements today claiming the al-Qaeda terrorist network carried out the bomb attacks against two Istanbul synagogues that killed 23 people.

A statement received by the London-based daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi said a unit of al-Qaeda executed the attacks yesterday because it learned that agents of the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad were in the synagogues.

The claim was received by email from the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades, which is suspected of links to al-Qaeda and which has sent at least three similar claims to the paper regarding previous attacks, Abdel Bari Atwan, editor of the Arabic-language newspaper, told the pan-Arab cable station Al-Jazeera.

"The Mujahedeen of Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades ... after monitoring (Israel's) Mossad agents and confirming that five of the agents were present in two synagogues in central Istanbul, carried out their deadly blow," said the statement, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press.
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Another emailed claim of responsibility sent to the London-based weekly Al-Majalla said al-Qaeda carried out the Istanbul attacks as well as the car bomb outside Italian police headquarters in Nasiriyah, Iraq, on November 12 that killed 19 Italians and more than a dozen Iraqis. Al-Majalla, which does not publish until Friday, provided excerpts of the email to the AP.

The claim was signed by an al-Qaeda operative, Abu Mohammed al-Ablaj, the newspaper said.

There was no way to independently confirm the authenticity of either claim of responsibility.

A Turkish radical Islamic group had claimed the attacks, but authorities said it did not have the capacity or international ties to launch such a strike.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the government had also received information that al-Qaeda had claimed responsibility, and Turkish authorities were investigating the claims.

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So, who do you reckon are behind it? Al Qaeda says they are, but I wouldn't put it past them to claim responsibility for every terror attack around the world that fits their MO, just to create the illusion of a sort of omnipotence. Now I haven't seen what the Turkish authorities have in their little groups, but for some reason it smells like a domestic terror operation to me. Of course, I could be wrong.

What about those Mossad agents? Plausible or not? What were they doing in Turkey then?

[lordjeebus]

Who knows who did it, based on the information available? I'm willing to accept that it was Al Qaeda. For that matter, does it matter which terrorist group was responsible? Their intent is clear.

I guess it's plausible that there were Mossad agents present, but again, we're most likely never going to see any real proof either way. I don't see anything unusual regarding their presence in Turkey -- they're probably in every country in the Middle East, and many beyond.