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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Neeka who wrote (16550)	11/17/2003 4:40:18 PM
From: Neeka	Respond to of 793838

Page 2 of 2 < Back Al Qaeda Claims Attacks in Turkey The Abu-Hafs al-Masri Brigades, which previously claimed responsibility for the car bombing at the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad last August in which 23 people died, said the Istanbul attack was its first strike against Jews in retaliation for Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories. "The remaining operations are coming, God willing, and by God, Jews around the world will regret that their ancestors even thought about occupying the land of Muslims," the statement continued. The group takes its name from Mohammed Atef, also known as Abu Hafs, a senior member of al Qaeda who was killed in Afghanistan in November 2001 during the U.S.-led military campaign. Israel's foreign minister, Silvan Shalom, who toured the area around the Neve Shalom synagogue Sunday afternoon, said: "The message here is that we have a shared fate. We all suffer at the hands of the same extreme groups who wish to hurt anyone who adopts values of democracy, freedom, equality and the rule of law." Turkish officials said Sunday that security cameras had recorded two Isuzu pickup trucks slowing near the two synagogues Saturday before their drivers detonated up to 800 pounds of compressed fuel oil, nitrate and ammonium sulfate inside containers hidden under packages of detergent. Police officials told the Anatolian News Agency that two dismembered bodies had been found in the rubble with wire cables attached to them and that one had been matched with bits of flesh found on the steering wheel of one of the trucks. "Both vehicles paused and exploded in front of the synagogues," said Turkey's foreign minister, Abdullah Gul. He said both drivers were believed to have detonated the explosives from inside the cabs of the pickup trucks. The devastation caused by the powerful bomb blast outside Neve Shalom stunned even members of Israel's ZAKA rescue service, which responds to suicide bombings in Israel. "We've seen many suicide attacks in Israel," Zelig Feiner told reporters after sifting through the blackened rubble covering the narrow street that fronts Neve Shalom. "But the amount of explosives and damage here is something we've never seen before." In recent years Neve Shalom, Istanbul's largest synagogue, "was like a fortress," Kohen said. Visitors were subjected to electronic surveillance inside a bulletproof vestibule before entering the compound, he said. Officials of the chief rabbi's office said the number of casualties inside the synagogues was limited because of the extraordinary security precautions designed to thwart potential attackers. She said several security guards and police officers assigned to protect the two synagogues were among the dead Saturday. Researcher Yesim Borg contributed to this report.