Istanbul

A strong earthquake shook eastern Turkey on Sunday, days after another quake killed 10 people in the region. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage in Sunday’s quake. The quake, centred in Erzurum province, had a preliminary magnitude of 5,3, the Istanbul-based Kandilli Observatory said.

Several suspects interviewed by police in connection with last week’s twin bomb attacks against British targets in Istanbul were sent to a state security court in Istanbul on Wednesday. The NTV news channel put their number at 18, including four women.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke on Saturday of his shame that the bombers who blew themselves up in a week of carnage in Istanbul were fellow Turks as police rounded up more suspects. But Erdogan vowed that the predominantly Muslim nation would not be cowed by the two sets of massive attacks.

An unidentified caller claimed responsibility for the two bomb blasts in Istanbul on behalf of al-Qaeda and a Turkish underground Islamic extremist group, Anatolia news agency reported. The person said in a phone call to the agency that the attacks were a joint attack by the two groups.

At least 26 people were killed and more than 400 injured in two massive explosions in Istanbul on Thursday, one badly damaging the HSBC bank headquarters and the other hitting the British consulate. Turkish television reported that British consul general Roger Short had been killed.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=23823">Pools of blood and wrecked cars</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=23831">Turkey blasts: Claims of al-Qaeda</a>

At least 25 people were killed and 390 injured on Thursday in huge explosions that rocked Turkey’s largest city, Istanbul, badly damaging the British consulate and two offices of the HSBC bank, Turkish media reported. Turkey’s Justice Minister, Cemil Cicek, said the bomb attacks were the result of suicide car bombs.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=23831">Turkey blasts: Claims of al-Qaeda</a>

Israeli parliamentary Speaker Reuven Rivlin said on Tuesday that suspected bombers involved in the Istanbul synagogue attacks were Turkish nationals with links to Afghanistan and Iran. Twenty-five people died when suicide bombers detonated explosives-laden trucks at two synagogues in old Istanbul on Saturday.

Turkish officials are investigating claims that the al-Qaeda terrorist network was behind the weekend’s bomb blasts outside two Istanbul synagogues that killed 23 people. At least six Jews at Beth Israel were among those killed in the blasts, which also wounded 303 people, including Jews and Muslim passers-by.

Police in Turkey have arrested three people, including a veiled woman, in connection with twin car bomb attacks that devastated two Istanbul synagogues on Saturday, killing 20 people and wounding 300. Officials had earlier speculated that the attacks had been carried out by al-Qaeda.