TURKEY: ISTANBUL AUTHORITIES ANNOUNCE DETENTION OF SEVERAL "WOULD-BE" SUICIDE BOMBERS.

Record ID: 858252

  • Title: TURKEY: ISTANBUL AUTHORITIES ANNOUNCE DETENTION OF SEVERAL "WOULD-BE" SUICIDE BOMBERS.
  • Date: 17th February 2004
  • Summary: (EU) ISTANBUL, TURKEY (MARCH 16, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. GV/ZOOM IN: WIDE VIEW OF ROOM ZOOM IN TO DOLL WITH MASK AND "SUICIDE ATTACK JACKET" WITH BOMBS 0.21 2. (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) ISTANBUL GOVERNOR, MUAMMER GULER SAYING: "18 people detained at the operation on 11 March 2004. 10 of them are transferred to State Security Court today." 0.31 3. CU/ZOOM/MV: VARIOUS OF MATERIALS SUPPOSED TO BE USED FOR A SUICIDE ATTACK (2 SHOTS) 0.39 4. (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) ISTANBUL GOVERNOR, MUAMMER GULER SAYING: "(Would be any suicide bombers in detainees ?) Those materials are prepared to be used at a suicide bomb attack. (But are there any ?) Of course. (How many ?) I can not give any info but we know at least 3." 1.04 5. VARIOUS: VARIOUS OF MATERIALS SUPPOSED TO BE USED FOR A SUICIDE BOMB ATTACK (7 SHOTS) 1.58 6. GV/PAN/GV: SECURITY IN FRONT OF COURT BUILDING (2 SHOTS) 2.19 7. GV/PAN: VARIOUS OF RELEASED SUSPECTS LEAVING COURT BUILDING (4 SHOTS) 2.47 8. GV/MV: RELATIVES WAITING OUTSIDE BUILDING (2 SHOTS) 2.59 9. GV/PAN/MV: THREE JAILED SUSPECTS COVERING THEIR FACES AND BEING LED TO POLICE VAN (3 SHOTS) 3.32 10. GV/MV: POLICE VAN LEAVING FOR PRISON (3 SHOTS) 3.51 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 3rd March 2004 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: ISTANBUL, TURKEY
  • City:
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics:
  • Reuters ID: LVACENME840PNHRJTHTEBE0MTZ97
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: Istanbul governor announces the detention of at
    least 3 would-be suicide bombers.



    Some of the 18 suspects detained in Turkey over last
    week's bombing of a Masonic lodge had received training in
    Afghanistan and Pakistan and were planning more suicide
    attacks, Istanbul's governor said on Tuesday.

    In a news conference on Tuesday (March 16) Istanbul
    governor Muammer Guler stopped short of saying Osama bin
    Laden's al Qaeda network was behind the bombing, even
    though militants aligned with al Qaeda have claimed
    responsibility for the blast, which killed one bomber and a
    waiter working at the lodge's restaurant on March 9.

    In a letter to London-based Arabic newspaper al-Quds
    al-Arabi, the group also claimed to be behind a series of
    train bombings in Madrid that killed 200 people two days
    later.

    Weapons seized by police were displayed at Tuesday's
    news conference in Istanbul, including homemade bombs and
    semi-automatic rifles.

    "Those materials are prepared to be used at a suicide
    bomb attack," Guler told a news conference. He did not say
    which sites the suspects may have been targeting.

    On Tuesday, 10 of the 18 people detained were
    transferred to a state security court for further
    questioning by the state prosecutor who will decide whether
    to charge them.

    Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for four bombings on
    British and Jewish targets in Istanbul that killed 61
    people last November.

    Turkish authorities and security analysts have said the
    attack on the freemasons' building differed greatly from
    the November truck bombings, which were among the worst
    episodes of violence during peacetime in modern Turkish
    history.

    One of the suspects at the court has confessed to
    murdering a Jewish dentist in Istanbul in August 2003,
    Guler added.


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