2003 Istanbul bombings

The first attacks were carried out on 15 November 2003 against two synagogues in Istanbul, Turkey. At approximately 9:30 a.m. local time (UTC+2.00), a bomb-laden truck that had parked in front of the Bet Israel Synagogue on Nakiye Elgün Street in Şişli was detonated. Prayers were being held in three separate rooms of the synagogue, and a child's bar mitzvah ceremony was being held with 400 people in attendance. Because the walls of the synagogue had been fortified after previous attacks, the internal walls of the structure were not badly damaged, but the external wall and surrounding shops and buildings were damaged, and passers-by were killed by the blast. Search-and-rescue teams dug survivors out from beneath the debris resulting from the explosions and sent them to nearby health institutions. An Islamic militant group, IBDA-C, claimed responsibility for the blasts, but it was later determined that the attacks had been carried out by Al-Qaeda. == Second bombings and aftermath ==

Five days later, on 20 November, as US President George W. Bush was in the United Kingdom meeting with Prime Minister Tony Blair, two more truck bombs exploded. The first attack occurred at around 10:55 a.m. (UTC+2.00) with the detonation of a bomb, comprising 700 kilograms of ammonium sulfate, ammonium nitrate, and compressed fuel oil, There were fatalities and injuries inside and near the building, and after the explosion, the first six aboveground stories of the building became unusable and the front side of the building was badly damaged. Approximately five minutes later, at around 11:00 a.m., another bomb-laden truck drove through security and detonated in front of the British Consulate on Meşrutiyet Avenue in Istanbul's Beyoğlu district. Deaths and injuries were immediately reported from the explosion, and the outer wall of the consulate's front garden collapsed onto cars driving by in the street, and a fire burned in the garden itself. Buildings nearby the consulate, including the entrance to the Çiçek Passage market, and cars on the street were also badly damaged. Shortly after the two attacks, a warning of an additional bombing at the Galleria Shopping Center in Bakırköy began to spread; the Akmerkez, Galleria, and Carousel shopping centers were evacuated, although the warnings ended up being baseless. The bombers appeared to have waited for the traffic lights in front of the HSBC headquarters to turn red to maximize the effects. Police say that the bombers may have timed the attacks to coincide with Bush's visit to the UK. == Casualties ==

First attacks On the day the attacks were carried out, the Istanbul Provincial Health Directorate issued a statement at 4:00 p.m. that 20 people had died and 257 were injured in the bombings. A few hours later, Health Minister Recep Akdağ announced that the number of deaths was 20 and that 302 people had referred to various hospitals because of the bomb attacks. Interior Minister Abdülkadir Aksu, however, stated that the identified number of injured people was 277. Later the evening of the attack, a statement issued by the Istanbul Security Directorate increased the number of casualties to 23, it shortly thereafter brought the number back down to 20. The following day, Istanbul Provincial Health Director Erman Tuncer reported, again, that 23 people had died and that about 71 people, of whom four were in critical condition, continued to receive medical attention at various hospitals. The number of casualties rose to 24 on 17 November when the body of a woman was found at the scene of the bombing and later to 25 when a victim receiving treatment at a hospital succumbed to their injuries. In a statement he made on 19 November, Istanbul Governor Muammer Güler announced that 25 people had died and approximately 300 people were injured as a result of the attacks. On 28 November, Istanbul Deputy Security Director Halil Yılmaz reported, in a press release riddled with inaccuracies, that 23 people had died from the first bombings but later corrected the mistakes in a statement to the press and changed the number of casualties to 27. This number rose to 28 on 9 February 2004 when Celal Dilsiz, a patient who had been receiving care in a hospital for almost three months, died from his injuries. The funeral ceremonies for six Jews who died in the attacks—Yoel Ülçer Kohen, Berta Özdoğan, Yona Romano, Annette Rubinstein, Anna Rubinstein, and Avram Varol—were held at the Ulus Ashkenazi Jewish Cemetery. The six people were laid to rest in the front section of the mausoleum where 23 people killed in the 1986 attack on the Neve Shalom Synagogue were buried. According to a written statement on 24 November from the Istanbul Provincial Health Directorate, 432 people had been treated and discharged from the hospital and 30 people, of whom six were in intensive care, were still receiving treatment. On 28 November, Istanbul Deputy Security Director Halil Yılmaz reported that 28 people had died in the second attacks, shortly thereafter later raising this figure to 30. Turkish actor and singer Kerem Yılmazer died in the HSBC bombing as he was going to the NTV building, where he worked as a voice actor on the Life Style program at the TV channel. Yılmazer's wife, actress Göksel Kortay, was on a live program on TV8 when the news of the bombings broke. == Damage ==

Istanbul Governor Muammer Güler, in a statement on 19 November, announced that inspections of 58 buildings in Beyoğlu after the synagogue attacks revealed nine buildings that were severely damaged, three that were moderately damaged, and eight that were somewhat damaged, amounting to damages of TL 37 billion (equivalent to approximately US$25 million in November 2003). In Şişli, of the 52 buildings examined, none were severely damaged, seven were moderately damaged, and 12 were somewhat damaged, with damages totaling TL 33 billion (about US$22.5 million in November 2003). Beyloğlu Municipal Mayor Kadir Topbaş announced that 38 buildings, of which 25 were considered historic, were damaged in Beyloğlu. Beşiktaş Municipal Mayor Yusuf Namoğlu reported that 75 buildings were damaged in Levent, including a historic school building in the nearby Zincirlikuyu quarter. == Reactions ==

Various nations condemned the attacks and offered their condolences, including the US and Germany. == Responsibility ==

Initially, a militant Turkish Islamic group, the Great Eastern Islamic Raiders' Front took responsibility. Turkey charged 74 people with involvement in the bombings, including Syrians Loai al-Saqa and Hamid Obysi, and a Turk, Harun Ilhan. Ilhan admitted that he and two other suspected ringleaders — Habib Akdaş and Gurcan Bac — were responsible; Ilhan referred to himself as ‘an al-Qaeda warrior'. Akdas fled to Iraq, where he was reportedly involved in a kidnapping, and was later killed by coalition forces in Fallujah. Bac's location remains undetermined. Other reporting indicates that Bac was suspected of preparing the bombs with Fevzi Yitiz, and that Akdas and Ibrahim Kus participated in a meeting with bin Laden in 2002. Al-Saqa had already been tried in absentia in Jordan for his part, along with al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, in the failed poison gas attack in 2002. On 16 February 2007, Al-Saqa and Ilhan were convicted and sentenced to 67 consecutive life sentences, one for every victim for the bombing plus additional terms for terrorism and conspiracy, as were five other Turkish men convicted of organising the bombing: Fevzi Yitiz (for helping to build the truck bombs) and Yusuf Polat, Baki Yigit, Osman Eken and Adnan Ersoz. Seyit Ertul was sentenced to 18 years' imprisonment for leading an al-Qaeda cell, and Obysi was sentenced to 12 years and 6 months for al-Qaeda membership, forgery and bomb-making. Of the other individuals who were charged, 29 were sentenced to 6 years and 3 months for aiding and abetting al-Qaeda, 10 were sentenced to 3 years and 9 months membership in al-Qaeda, and 26 were acquitted. However, in 2010, Turkish investigators accused three of the highest-ranking military leaders at the time of the bombing of orchestrating the attacks in the hopes of destabilising the government and prompting a military coup. Gen Çetin Dogan, head of the 1st Army and then deputy chief of the military staff, Gen Ibrahim Fırtına, ex-air force chief, and former naval commander Admiral Özden Örnek, along with 35 other ex-military personnel were arrested and questioned concerning their roles in Operation Sledgehammer, of which the bombings were reportedly a part. == See also ==