Suicide bombers blamed for Turkey attacks

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.

The militant Turkish group Great Eastern Islamic Raiders' Front claimed responsibility for the suicide car bombings, Anatolia news agency said.

One explosion went off outside the Neve Shalom synagogue, the city’s largest.

The other severely damaged the Beth Israel synagogue in the affluent district of Sisli, 3 miles away, where members of the city’s tiny Jewish, Armenian and Greek communities live.

Twisted metal, shattered windows and debris from partly collapsed synagogues and nearby buildings filled the streets surrounding the buildings. The scent of smoke and burned bodies filled the air.

Television footage showed medical teams carrying away several people, some with bloodied or charred faces. Private NTV television showed the twisted wreckage of a car and a huge crater in front of the Neve Shalom.

NTV television said a red car was seen parked just before the explosion in front of the Neve Shalom. Police suspected that the car may have been laden with bombs, NTV said.

Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu said 23 people were killed, while the semi-official Anatolia news agency said more than 80 were wounded.

“It was like a war zone,” said Sadettin Gul, an eyewitness.

The Neve Shalom synagogue was the sight of an attack by gunmen in 1986. The gunmen, believed to be Palestinians, killed 22 worshippers and wounded six during a Sabbath service.

In 1992, the Iranian-backed Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah carried out a bomb attack against the same synagogue but no one was injured.