Istanbul bombing linked to al-Qaida

The Istanbul suicide bombings appear to be have carried out by militants linked to al-Qaida, the Turkish government said today.

“According to the information we have right now, both those who were involved in these terrorist attacks as suicide bombers, and those who had relations with them, seem close to al-Qaida, are linked to the al-Qaida terrorist organisation,” Deputy Prime Minister Abdullatif Sener said after a Cabinet meeting.

Western and Turkish officials have said the suicide attacks on two Istanbul synagogues on November 15 and the British Consulate and a London-based bank in Istanbul five days later bore similarities to attacks carried out by Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network.

Turkish officials had been hesitant to definitively link the bombings to al-Qaida.

There have been at least three claims of responsibility for the bombings claiming to be from al-Qaida.