- "An outlawed Turkish radical group called the Great
Eastern Islamic Raiders' Front claimed responsibility for the attacks,
but Turkish officials dismissed the claim, saying the group did not have
the resources to mount this kind of co-ordinated attack. In a news conference,
Turkey's interior minister, Abdulkadir Aksu, said that similar trucks were
used in each attack and that both contained a similar explosive, according
to initial police analysis."
-
- "It is obvious that this terrorist attack has some
international connections," said Abdullah Gul, Turkey's foreign minister.
-
-
- Jews, Muslims Slain In Synagogue Blasts
- Turkish Radicals Claim They Did It
-
- By Yigal Schleifer
- Special To The Toronto Star
- 11-17-3
-
- ISTANBUL -- A pair of truck
bombs exploded outside two of Istanbul's largest synagogues during Sabbath
prayers yesterday, killing at least 20 and injuring more than 300, Turkish
police said.
-
- The explosions, which occurred only minutes apart, caused
carnage "like a battlefield," one victim said, and left the streets
surrounding the synagogues littered with shattered glass, prayer books
and blood-stained prayer shawls.
-
- One explosion occurred near the main entrance of the
Neve Shalom synagogue, the city's central synagogue, where about 400 worshippers
were gathered to celebrate a bar mitzvah.
-
- It was 9:30 a.m., and the metal-encased Torah often used
by Sephardic Jews had just been opened. Honoured guests in the bar mitzvah
service had just finished the traditional prayer over the holy book when
the blast sent a roar heard kilometres away.
-
- Eleven Muslims and nine Jews were killed in the blasts
yesterday morning, a Jewish Agency worker said. The 11 Muslims killed were
outside the Neve Shalom, which means "oasis of peace" in Hebrew.
It is Istanbul's largest temple and the focus of worship for its 25,000
Jews, a Jewish Agency worker said.
-
- The second explosion took place at the back side of the
Beit Israel synagogue, in Istanbul's Sisli neighbourhood.
-
- It is still not clear whether the explosions were set
off by suicide bombers driving by the synagogues or if they were ignited
by remote control, in trucks parked near the buildings.
-
- "I heard the explosion. I thought it was an earthquake.
From my front terrace I saw people coming out of the synagogue, some of
them covered in blood," said Gulen Guler, who lives a few doors down
from Neve Shalom. "We could see bodies lying in the street and windows
smashed everywhere."
-
- In front of the Neve Shalom synagogue, a deep crater
marked the spot where Turkish officials said a small truck laden with explosives
blew up. A blackened axle was all that remained of the vehicle. The stone
and wrought-iron fa?ade of the synagogue was destroyed, the synagogue's
foyer now filled with a tangle of twisted metal and shattered glass.
-
- The synagogue is on a narrow street in one of Istanbul's
most historic districts, an area filled with small shops selling lamps
and chandeliers. The explosion devastated the entire length of the street,
shattering shop windows and leaving some balconies on the verge of collapse.
-
- Neve Shalom's sanctuary is set off from the street, so
the number of injured was relatively low and the damage limited to the
entrance.
-
- Most of the day's injured came from the Beit Israel synagogue,
which was filled with an estimated 300 people, many of whom were there
to celebrate the recently finished renovation of a smaller sanctuary in
the back of the synagogue, close to where the car bomb exploded.
-
- After the bombing, that sanctuary was littered with dust
and shattered glass, prayer books and blood-stained prayer shawls covering
the ground and the rows of wooden chairs. The force of the explosion carried
through the synagogue, blowing out a large window in the building's front,
leaving a large empty circle where a stained-glass Star of David used to
be.
-
- Nine Jews were killed at the Beit Israel temple, the
Jewish Agency worker said. Among the dead were a woman in her 80s and her
8-year-old granddaughter.Turkish officials said a policeman also died at
the scene.
-
- Turkey's chief rabbi, Isak Haleva, and Ben Zion Pinto,
president of the 20,000-member Turkish Jewish community, were among those
worshipping at the Beit Israel synagogue. Both were uninjured.
-
- "I was praying when suddenly there was an explosion
under us and all the windows blew open and I was left standing there in
shock in the middle of heavy smoke," Rabbi Haleva said.
-
- An outlawed Turkish radical group called the Great Eastern
Islamic Raiders' Front claimed responsibility for the attacks, but Turkish
officials dismissed the claim, saying the group did not have the resources
to mount this kind of co-ordinated attack. In a news conference, Turkey's
interior minister, Abdulkadir Aksu, said that similar trucks were used
in each attack and that both contained a similar explosive, according to
initial police analysis.
-
- "It is obvious that this terrorist attack has some
international connections," said Abdullah Gul, Turkey's foreign minister.
-
- Gul's claim was echoed by Israeli diplomats in Turkey,
who compared the attack to an April, 2002, Al Qaeda car bombing of a historic
synagogue on the Tunisian island of Djerba. That attack killed 21 people.
-
- Jewish community officials said they have been on high
alert for the last three months regarding possible attacks and had notified
the police about their concerns. Security at Istanbul's synagogues had
been increased in response, officials said.
-
- "If we didn't have security as good as it is, the
tragedy could have been a lot worse. We wouldn't have been as lucky,"
said Lina Filiba, executive vice-president of the Turkish Jewish community.
-
- Turkey's Jewish community traces its roots to 1492, when
Jews expelled from Spain were welcomed to the Ottoman Empire.
-
- Despite living in a predominantly Muslim country, Turkey's
Jewish community prides itself on being an example of successful religious
coexistence.
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