November 26, 2003	Wednesday	Shawwal 1, 1424

ISTANBUL, Nov 25: Nine people were charged by a Turkish state security court on Tuesday over massive bomb attacks on British targets during a week of carnage in Istanbul.

The nine were charged at a court sitting with membership of and aiding and abetting an “illegal organization” while another three suspects were released.

At least 28 people were killed and 450 more were injured when suicide bombers drove explosives-laden trucks into the British consulate and the Turkish headquarters of the London-based HSBC bank in the old city of Istanbul on Thursday.

Five days earlier, similar bombings had wrecked two synagogues in Istanbul, killing 25 and wounding 300. Five people were charged last week with “attempting to overthrow the constitutional order” over the synagogue bombings and a sixth was charged with aiding an illegal organization.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said the bombers were Turkish nationals with international links and both attacks have been claimed by the Al Qaeda group and a small Turkish group called the Islamic Great Eastern Raiders Front (IBDA-C).

Istanbul governor Muammer Guler said on Monday that police had identified the consulate bomber, although Turkish officials have accused the media of impeding their investigation after naming and publishing photographs of the suspected bombers.

Turkish police and Britain’s Scotland Yard are focusing inquiries on the impoverished town of Bingol in mainly Kurdish southeastern Turkey, said to be the hometown of at least three of the suicide bombers.

The charges against the nine came as Turks began celebrating Eid. —AFP