ISTANBUL, 18 November 2003 — Police investigating the Saturday car bombings of two synagogues in Istanbul were yesterday questioning many suspects including a man in whose name one of the panel vans used in the attacks was registered.
The death toll from the almost simultaneous attacks on the synagogues rose to 24 yesterday with the discovery of another body under the rubble of the Sisli synagogue.
The Anadolu news agency reported that anti-terrorism police in the eastern Turkey town of Bingol had taken into custody Metin Ekinci and had transferred him for questioning to Istanbul. CNN Turk reported that another man in whose name the other panel van used in the attacks had been registered was also being questioned.
Turkish police suspect that two bodies found after the attacks may be those of Turkish militants believed to be the suicide bombers, the Anatolia news agency reported. Anatolia gave the names as Mesut Cabuk and Azad Ekinci but added that police were still awaiting the results of DNA tests on the bodies to confirm their identities.
The report said Cabuk was the man caught on the security cameras of one of the targeted synagogues. Istanbul Governor Muammer Guler told reporters that police were questioning a number of people.
The Arabic television channel Al-Jazeera reported Sunday that Al- Qaeda had claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Government spokesman Cemil Cicek yesterday refused to be drawn on whether Al-Qaeda was behind the attacks, but made clear the government had no sympathy with fundamentalist terrorists.
