ISTANBUL, 16 November 2003 — Twin car bombs exploded outside synagogues in Istanbul yesterday, killing at least 20 people and wounding more than 257, officials said.

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said there were “international connections” to the near-simultaneous attacks, one of which blasted the city’s largest synagogue, Neve Shalom.

Police were investigating whether the Al-Qaeda terror network had any link to the bombings, private CNN-Turk television reported.

A huge crater was blown into the street in front of Neve Shalom, leaving the twisted wreckage of a car, as medical teams carried away bloodied and burned victims. The other blast hit the Beth Israel synagogue in the affluent district of Sisli, five kilometers (three miles) away, collapsing its roof and littering the street with debris.

“There was huge panic, glass exploding and metal pieces all over the place,” said Enver Eker, who witnessed the blast at Neve Shalom, which in Hebrew means “oasis of peace.”

US President George W. Bush condemned the bombings and said the United States stands shoulder to shoulder with the Turkish people in the war on terror.

“I condemn in the strongest possible terms the terrorist attacks today in Istanbul, where Turkey’s diverse religious communities of Muslim, Jewish and Christian believers have flourished together for centuries,” Bush said in a statement released by the White House. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the bombings “an attack against humanity.”

Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu said police were investigating whether the attacks were suicide bombings.

Footage from security cameras showed a red Fiat exploding in front of Neve Shalom synagogue, and the driver who parked the car walking away, police told the Anatolia News Agency.

A militant Turkish Islamic group, the Great Eastern Islamic Raiders’ Front, claimed responsibility for the attacks in a phone call to Anatolia. But NTV television quoted police as saying that the attack was too sophisticated to be carried by that group — a local and relatively small organization — and that recent intelligence had indicated Al-Qaeda could be planning attacks in Turkey.

“It is obvious that this terrorist attack has some international connections,” Gul said.

Al-Qaeda is thought to have carried out an April 2002 vehicle bombing at a historic synagogue on the Tunisian resort island of Djerba that killed 21 people, mostly foreign tourists. Turkey, NATO’s only Muslim member and close ally of the United States, has long had military and political ties with Israel. Turkey was the first Muslim country to recognize Israel, in 1948.

Turkey has also raised the ire of some in the Arab world by offering to send troops to Iraq to bolster US troops. On Oct. 14, a suicide car bomber exploded his vehicle outside the Turkish Embassy in Baghdad, killing the driver and a bystander and wounding at least 13. Iraqi leaders came out against any Turkish deployment and Ankara this month retracted its offer.

Israeli, European Union and NATO leaders expressed horror at the synagogue bombings. Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom contacted his Turkish counterpart to express his condolences and to offer Israeli assistance in treating the wounded, Israel Radio reported.

NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson expressed condolences to the victims’ families and Turkish people.

“These odious crimes near two synagogues are unacceptable acts of hatred and intolerance, which I strongly condemn as barbaric attacks against innocent people,” Robertson said in a statement.

Security has been tight at Neve Shalom since a 1986 attack when gunmen killed 22 worshipers and wounded six.

That attack was blamed on the radical Palestinian militant Abu Nidal.

The Iranian-backed group Hezbollah carried out a bomb attack against the synagogue in 1992, but no one was injured.