Syria expels bomb suspects

Syria today handed over 22 people suspected of involvement in Turkey’s quadruple suicide bombings, authorities said.

The suspects allegedly fled Turkey following the attacks in November on two synagogues, the British consulate and a British bank, which occurred within a week of one another and killed 61 people.

A paramilitary police statement by Turkey’s semi-official news agency Anatolia said the 22 people included Hilmi Tugluoglu, said to be linked to Azat Ekinci, a key suspect in the blasts.

Ekinci has been named in reports as a key accomplice in the synagogue bombings, saying he used fake identities and cash to buy the pickup trucks containing the bombs. Ekinci is alleged to have travelled to Iran, received military and explosives training in Pakistan between 1997-99 and fought in Chechnya.

The statement didn’t elaborate about Tugluoglu’s alleged involvement. It said Tugluoglu’s wife was also brought to Turkey.

The suspects were being questioned, the statement added.

Anatolia said several important suspects were believed to be in Syria.

The announcement came amid signs of progress in the investigation.

On Saturday, a Turkish court charged another key suspect, whom police said was captured last week while trying to slip into Iran, with trying to overthrow Turkey’s ”constitutional order” – a crime equivalent to treason.

That man is accused of having given the order to carry out the November 15 truck bombing of the Beth Israel synagogue.

Police have only identified the man by his initials, Y P – nearly all major Turkish newspapers said he was Yusuf Polat. The daily Radikal said Polat was born in 1974 in Turkey’s south-eastern province of Malatya.

The daily Milliyet and other newspapers reported today that Polat and others had confessed to belonging to a 10-man cell that he said was an extension of the al Qaida terror network. Police also had evidence that the attackers had received support domestically and from abroad, Milliyet reported.

The daily Sabah reported that several members of the cell, including several of the suicide bombers, had met while training in Afghanistan. The Cumhuriyet newspaper also said Polat had fought in Afghanistan.

Istanbul Gov Muammer Guler also did not directly address the news reports, but said there were “resemblance’s to an al Qaida link” in the attacks.

“However, we have to obtain all the official evidence, all the links, all the clues. It wouldn’t be right to talk about the links without all the official evidence,” Guler said.

He added there was no evidence so far linking the attacks to the militant Turkish Islamic group, Hezbollah, which is not linked to the Lebanese group of the same name.

Police refused to comment on the reports.

Police said they arrested Y P on Tuesday at the Gurbulak crossing in eastern Agri province, which borders Iran. Police said he went to the Beth Israel synagogue before the attack and ordered its start.

The daily Hurriyet said Y P had been tracked down through his mobile telephone records after allegedly calling a suicide bomber only minutes before the attack. The Anatolia news agency reported that materials used to make bombs had been found in a house in Istanbul that he used.

On Saturday, a court charged Y P with attempting to overthrow Turkey’s constitutional order by force, an offense that is punishable by life in prison. He was the first major figure charged in connection with the bombings.

Authorities have charged another 20 people in connection with the blasts, but for lesser roles.

All the suicide bombers were Turks.

Guler announced today that the attack against the HSBC bank’s Istanbul headquarters was carried out by Ilyas Kuncak, born in 1956 in the capital Ankara. Anatolia had earlier named the bomber as Mevlut Ugur and newspapers previously speculated that two other suspected militants, including Ekinci, had carried out the attack.

Guler also confirmed that Feridun Ugurlu carried out the attack against the British consulate. Ugurlu is believed to have fought with Islamic radicals in Afghanistan and Chechnya and his role had widely been reported by Turkish newspapers.