November 20, 2003	Thursday	Ramazan 24, 1424

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ISTANBUL, Nov 19: Istanbul’s governor on Wednesday named two Turkish men authorities believe carried out the suicide attacks on two synagogues that killed at least 25 people and wounded hundreds more.

Governor Muammer Guler also told reporters there were similarities between Saturday’s twin bombings and previous attacks by the militant Al Qaeda network.

“It has been verified with DNA testing that Mesut Cabuk was responsible for (the attack on) Beit Israel and Gokhan Elaltuntas was responsible for (the attack on) Neve Shalom,” Guler told reporters.

Cabuk, 29, and Elaltuntas, 22, were both from Bingol, a city in southeastern Turkey, Guler said. Bingol is some 800km from Istanbul and was a centre for Turkish Hizbullah, a radical Islamist group that was especially active in the 1990s.

“The incidents at the synagogues show parallels with acts carried out by Al Qaeda,” Guler said.

An Al Qaeda unit claimed responsibility for the attacks at the weekend and warned that the Islamist network was planning more attacks against the United States and its allies.

Turkish officials have said they believe the attackers acted in coordination with foreign organisations.

Local media had already named the suspects and published their photographs.

The media said the men were believed to be foreign-trained members of two outlawed militant groups based in Turkey — the Islamic Great Eastern Raiders-Front or the little-known Islamic Movement.

The first-named surfaced in the mid-1990s with a series of bomb attacks on bars, nightclubs and churches in Istanbul. —Reuters