Al-Qaida suspect stands trial over Istanbul bombings

A Turkish court today began trying a key Syrian al-Qaida suspect on charges of masterminding suicide bombings that killed 58 people in Istanbul.

Police took strict security measures outside the court in Istanbul, where Loa’I Mohammad Haj Bakr al-Saqa is standing trial along with 72 other suspected al-Qaida militants blamed for a series of suicide bombings in Istanbul in 2003.

Turkish prosecutors claimed that Osama bin Laden personally ordered al-Saqa, 32, to carry out terror attacks in the predominantly Muslim but pro-Western country.

Al-Saqa is accused of serving as a point man between al-Qaida and homegrown militants behind the November 2003 bombings, which destroyed a British bank, the British Consulate and two synagogues, an indictment said. It said al-Saqa gave the Turkish militants about €150,000.

Al-Saqa and his alleged Syrian accomplice, Hamid Obysi, were captured in Turkey in August after an alleged failed plot to attack Israeli cruise ships. Obysi also stood trial today along with other al-Qaida suspects.