Al-Qaida claims responsibility for Istanbul blasts

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, November 17, 2003

Al-Qaida claims responsibility for Istanbul blasts

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Bombings at Turkish Synagogues

The al-Qaida terrorist movement later Sunday claimed responsibility for the deadly car bomb attacks that killed 23 people in two synagogues in Turkey's largest city of Istanbul on Saturday, media reports said.

"Abu Hafz al-Masri Brigades struck a mortal blow after having kept Jewish intelligence agents under surveillance and determined that five of them were in two synagogues in the centre of Istanbul," Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network said in an Arabic-language statement to the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper.

Abdel Bari Atwan, the newspaper's editor, told the pan-Arab cable station Al-Jazeera that the claim was received by e-mail from the Abu Hafs al-Masri brigades, which is identified as part of al-Qaida.

The statement also warned of more attacks around the world. Two powerful car bombs went off near synagogues in Sisli and Kuledibi districts in Istanbul almost simultaneously during Saturday's Sabbath prayers, killing 23 people and injuring some 300 others.

The tragedy occurred when car bombers shattered two synagogues in Istanbul as worshippers celebrated the Sabbath earlier in the day.

Earlier on Saturday, Turkish Islamic group IBDA/C -- the Islamic Great Eastern Raiders/Front, had already claimed responsibility for the attacks.

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