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November 21, 2003, Scotsman BRITISH TARGETS UNDER ATTACK - 27 DIE IN ISTANBUL CARNAGE Gethin Chamberlain Diplomatic Correspondent AL-QAEDA was yesterday blamed for two massive car bombs which exploded in the heart of Istanbul, killing the British consul-general, his personal assistant and at least 25 others, with an estimated 450 more injured. The bombers detonated lorries packed with explosives outside the British consulate and the Turkish headquarters of the London-based HSBC bank. The British death toll is expected to rise. The attack on British interests in the city appeared to be timed to coincide with the visit to London of George Bush, the president of the United States, and came only days after a bloody terrorist strike on two Istanbul synagogues. Mr Bush said the bombings showed utter contempt for innocent life. "The terrorists hope to intimidate, they hope to demoralise. They are not going to succeed," he said. "Great Britain and America and other free nations are united today in our grief and united in our determination to fight and defeat this evil wherever it is found. Our mission in Iraq is noble and it is necessary, and no act of thugs or killers will change our resolve or alter their fate. We will finish the job we have begun." Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, said there could be no compromise in the fight against terrorism. He said: "I can assure you of one thing, that when something like this happens today, our response is not to flinch or give way or concede one inch. We stand absolutely firm until this job is done, done in Iraq, done elsewhere in the world." The Foreign Office has revised its travel advice for Turkey, warning against all non- essential travel to Istanbul. The Turkish premier, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, decried the timing of the attacks, during the Islamic month of Ramadan. "Those who bloodied this holy day and massacred innocent people will account for it in both worlds," he said. Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, flew to Istanbul last night, as Britain announced it was sending 16 members of London's anti-terrorist police branch to assist the investigation. Mr Straw said the blasts bore "all the hallmarks of the international terrorism operations practised by al-Qaeda and associated organisations". Later, an anonymous caller to Turkey's Anatolian news agency claimed responsibility for the blasts in the name of al-Qaeda and a small Turkish Islamic group. Officials said they believed the groups were behind yesterday's attacks and the synagogues' bombing on Saturday, in which 23 people died. Ernst Uhrlau, the co-ordinator of Germany's intelligence services, said that the bombing of British targets on a day when Mr Bush was in London was a symbolic way for al-Qaeda to meet the US - its declared chief enemy - "at eye level." And August Hanning, the head of German foreign intelligence, said the professionalism of the attacks, the symbolic targets and simultaneous explosions pointed to al-Qaeda as the perpetrators. The first bomb exploded outside the headquarters of the HSBC bank at 11: 10am local time, killing at least ten people and injuring many more. The second blast, outside the British consulate, echoed across the city two minutes later. Witnesses said a catering van had attempted to crash through the gates of the consulate before exploding, demolishing the buildings on either side. Officials said that Roger Short, the consul-general to Turkey, had moved his office into one of the buildings next to the gate after a fire in the main consulate. He and his assistant, Lisa Hallworth, 38 died instantly. Security at the consulate was said to be tight, but some witnesses questioned the wisdom of allowing the consul-general to use an office so close to a main road. The US consulate was moved months ago to a more secure location. Peter Westmacott, the British ambassador to Turkey, said there had been no specific intelligence of a security threat. "We did have extra security - sadly it wasn't enough," he said. "We obviously have to keep our security for our embassy at Ankara and the rest of our interests here in Istanbul under the most careful review." After arriving in Turkey, Mr Straw said the attacks were "an atrocity against all our civilisation". "The death of our staff, both British and Turkish, alongside other British and Turkish citizens in Istanbul, is deeply shocking," he added. "They posed a threat to no-one. They were working in Istanbul to help British and Turkish citizens alike in support of the strong relations between our two countries." Mr Straw was due to meet the Turkish foreign minister and visit the HSBC site today. The Queen sent a message saying she was "deeply shocked" at the attacks and expressed her sympathy to "all caught up in these evil acts". The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, who visited Istanbul and met Mr Short earlier this week, said: "These acts of violence achieve nothing but to hurt a community of all faiths and none." Of the injured, 110 remained in hospital last night, many in critical condition. Witnesses described scenes of carnage, with body parts strewn across the streets. Bystanders, bloodied and covered in dust, looked dazed as they walked past lines of ambulances. Paul Robertson 35, an IT expert from Greenock who has worked in Istanbul for two years, was working about 500 metres away from the first blast. He said: "There was a huge cloud of smoke, a bit like the scenes of 11 September. Then, minutes later, we heard another explosion. "My girlfriend works at the Italian consulate and we were at a party there last week and everyone was saying what a nice person Roger Short was." In London yesterday, demonstrators toppled an effigy of Mr Bush as part of a protest against his visit to the UK. As the president was entertained in Buckingham Palace, a papier-mache statue was dragged to the ground in Trafalgar Square in an echo of the toppling of the Saddam Hussein statue in Baghdad. Organisers of the protests said up to 200,000 people were involved.
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................................................................................................................. Copyright ©2004 Gethin Chamberlain. All rights reserved. |
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