Synagogue bombling: Turkish police arrest man

Police investigating a string of deadly suicide bombings in Istanbul have arrested a man suspected of ordering an attack on the Beth Israel synagogue, police said today.

Police spokesman Halil Yilmaz said the man was taken to the wrecked synagogue early today. He said the man made plans for the attack and ordered it. He did not identify the man.

The suicide truck bombings on the Beth Israel synagogue and another synagogue on November 15, along with the November 20 bombing of the British Consulate and a British bank, killed 61 people – including the four bombers – and injured 712.

A total of 20 people have been charged in connection with bombings, police said.

Earlier today, private NTV television showed the man – bearded, handcuffed and appearing to be in his 20s – at Beth Israel speaking to an investigator.

Yilmaz said six other suspects had been sent to court to face possible charges.

Turkish authorities have identified the synagogue bombers as Mesut Cabuk and Gokhan Elaltuntas, both from the impoverished town of Bingol in the Kurdish-dominated south east of Turkey. The consulate and bank bombers have yet to be officially identified.

Turkish officials have said all four suicide bombers were Turkish nationals, militants with international contacts. Newspapers have said some of them could have been trained in al Qaida camps in Afghanistan or Iran.

Western and Turkish officials say the attacks bore the hallmarks of Osama bin Laden’s al Qaida network.