November 16, 2003	Sunday	Ramazan 20, 1424

ISTANBUL, Nov 15: Even before the dust settled on two synagogue bomb blasts in Istanbul on Saturday, governments were quick to see the hand of international terrorism behind the attacks.

Coming hard on the heels of a suicide blast at a housing complex in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and an attack on Italian police headquarters in Nassiriyah, Iraq, the latest blasts clearly were part of an organized campaign in “a war launched by terrorists”, said a Polish spokesman.

“The war against terrorism is becoming ever more intense,” he said.

Several countries stepped up anti-terrorism measures. The BBC said in London that British security services have been placed on their second highest state of alert over an intelligence report about a possible attack by Al Qaeda.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said those responsible for the Istanbul attacks “deserve nothing less than the contempt and condemnation of the entire international community”.

As it prepared to receive back the bodies of its 19 citizens killed in Nasiriyah, Italy also intensified security measures around the country.

Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu summoned police and security chiefs as soon as he heard the news from Istanbul and immediately ordered intensified security around places of worship.

The head of the Jewish community in Greece asked for security to be stepped up around synagogues there as well.

In Switzerland, a senior economy ministry official said it had proposed that the government adopt a measure to confiscate not only bank accounts but also real estate and other property of anyone suspected of having links with terrorism.

Israel said the bombings were “criminal terrorist attacks” and Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said they were a direct consequence of what Israel has identified as growing anti-Semitism in Europe and elsewhere.

In France, where a Jewish school was burnt down in an apparent arson attack on Saturday, President Jacques Chirac said of the Istanbul blasts: “Acts of such barbarity can only spark anger and indignation and strengthen the determination of democratic nations to work together to fight anti-Semitism and all expressions of intolerance, and to combat terrorism without respite”.

In a letter to his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Necdet Sezer, Mr Chirac said he was “profoundly moved and shocked” by the attacks, which his government condemned as “abominable”.—AFP