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Slowly but surely
is Terrorism making its way to the very fucking center of Europe. It goes in circles (geographically, approaching from North Africa and the Mid East), it multiplates, it grows, it expands, it destroys. Like a virus (forgive the Agen Smith tone). A plague.
After southeast-asia, middle east, north africa, middle africa (Kenia twice, Tanzania ) the US it now reaches Europe. Almost smybolically, as the bombings occured in the European part of Istanbul. As if to show where the show is heading. I count the months until it actually blows up in our fucking faces. Can I quote RATM?
| quote: | | WAKE UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
ISTANBUL, Turkey (CNN) -- At least 16 people were killed and 146 injured Saturday morning when two cars laden with explosives simultaneously detonated near two Jewish synagogues in Istanbul, according to the Turkish interior minister.
Turkish officials believe the explosions -- which took place early Saturday morning on the Jewish Sabbath -- were a coordinated terror attack, although it is still unclear who is responsible.
Police are still investigating whether the explosions were the result of suicide bombers or remote controlled devices.
"No organization has claimed responsibility yet," Turkish Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu said, near one of the blast sites in Istanbul. "We are considering every possibility. Any organization could be behind this."
Earlier, Turkish media reported the Islamic Great Eastern Raiders Front had claimed responsibility for the attacks, but government officials in Ankara suspect the attacks were carried out by terrorists outside the country, possibly al Qaeda.
One car bomb detonated about a meter from the Neve Shalom synagogue in the crowded Kuledibi district.
"It appears that no one inside the synagogue was hurt," said journalist Andrew Finkel, adding that most of those killed were passersby. "There's still a sense of disbelief."
The explosion left a two-meter deep hole in front of the synagogue, Finkel said.
Shattered glass littered the streets where many small shops are located. "The facades of all those buildings have been destroyed," Finkel said. "The street is in ruins."
A local hospital was already full to capacity with wounded, CNN Turk said.
"It was a huge bang, my windows are full of debris. It shook my stomach," one witness living nearby told Reuters.
The Neve Shalom synagogue, the city's largest, was the site of a 1986 attack by the Abu Nidal terror organization, killing 22 people during Sabbath services. Security at synagogue has been extremely high since that attack.
The second car bomb detonated near Istanbul's Beth Israel Synagogue, several kilometers away, CNN Turk reported.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the attack and is returning home from a visit to Cyprus. Israel's ambassador to Turkey was also traveling to the scene from Ankara.
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