Israeli firefighters have reined in a blaze that had spread across the country's third-largest city of Haifa.

TURKISH officials investigated claims that the al-Qaida terrorist network was responsible for the truck bombings that devastated two Istanbul synagogues and killed 23 people, the prime minister said early yesterday.

Turkish officials were investigating claims that the al-Qaida terrorist network was responsible for the car bombings that devastated two Istanbul synagogues and killed 23 people, the prime minister said.

Suicide car bombers claimed responsibility for explosions in two synagogues in central Istanbul today, killing 23 people on the Jewish Sabbath, the interior minister said.