Istanbul bomb blast suspects in court

Police took 18 alleged accomplices of the Istanbul suicide bombers to a state security court for questioning by prosecutors today.

It was an apparent sign of progress in the investigation of suspected Islamic radicals believed to be behind last week’s carnage.

Investigators also used DNA samples to confirm the identify of one Islamic militant who rammed into Istanbul’s British Consulate, a Turkish newspaper reported.

The arrival of the suspected accomplices at the court, which handles terrorist cases, indicated police are confident they have enough evidence for charges to be filed against at least some of the suspects. Charges were expected later today.

The suspects were detained after Thursday’s twin bombings of the consulate and the local headquarters of the London-based HSBC bank, which left 30 people dead including at least three Britons.

The Milliyet newspaper, citing police sources, said one of the bombers was identified as Feridun Ugurlu, a Turk believed to have fought with Islamic radicals in Afghanistan and Chechnya.

Police, who have claimed that media leaks are hampering the investigation, refused to confirm the report.

Defying government restrictions on reporting the investigation, Milliyet said skin and blood samples found on the wreckage of the truck matched with DNA samples of his father.

Turkish media reports have said police have tentatively identified the other suicide bomber as Azad Ekinci, who also had links with Islamic radical groups.

Before Thursday’s attacks, Ugurlu was named by the Turkish media as an accomplice of two suicide bombers who attacked synagogues in Istanbul on November 15, killing 23 people.

Police examined the hard drives of 10 computers taken from an Internet cafe in the south-eastern city of Bingol after the synagogue bombings, a local official said.

The city is reportedly the home town of all four suspected suicide bombers. The Bingol official said the cafe belonged to a brother of one of the suspected bombers.

At least three groups or individuals with purported ties to al-Qaida claimed responsibility for the attacks. Although Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday it was too early to confirm al-Qaida involvement, foreign and Turkish officials say the attacks bore the hallmarks of the network led by Osama bin Laden.

“The sophistication of these two attacks, the fact that there were multiple attacks, that they were timed to coincide with one another, certainly is consistent with the pattern we have seen in attacks launched by al-Qaida,” said Eric Edelman, the American ambassador to Turkey, who visited the bombed sites.

Edelman said the United States had offered intelligence assistance to the Turks.

Anti-terrorist specialists from Britain are assisting the Turkish police, and Israel is also reported to have sent agents.

Milliyet reported two pick-up trucks used to attack the Neve Shalom synagogue and the HSBC bank were bought by Ugurlu from the same dealer, Milliyet reported. One was registered in the name of Ugurlu’s father, Ahmet Ugurlu, who has been interrogated by police, the paper added.

Authorities arrested six people on Wednesday in connection with the synagogue bombings. A court charged five with ”attempting to overthrow the constitutional structure,” which carries a sentence of life imprisonment. The sixth was charged with “helping illegal organisations,” punishable by five years in prison. No trial date was set.

Turkish officials said they are examining a report that over 1,000 Turkish radicals who fought in Chechnya, Bosnia and Afghanistan were in the country. Some of the radicals are believed to have trained in al-Qaida camps.