Posted on 12/16/2003 4:29:50 AM PST by witnesstothefall
ANKARA, Turkey -- A Turkish man suspected of preparing the truck bombs that killed 62 people in Istanbul last month confessed he had explosives training at an al-Qaida terrorist camp in Afghanistan, an intelligence official said Monday.
Fevzi Yitiz also told police that two other accomplices met with bin Laden in Afghanistan in the summer of 2002 and received his blessing for the attacks, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The confessions of Yitiz, the most prominent suspect captured so far, may shed some light on the ties between Turkish Islamic militants and Osama bin Laden's terrorist network.
Yitiz was captured Dec. 10 as he entered Turkey from Iran, the official said. A Turkish court on Sunday filed terrorism charges against Yitiz for his alleged involvement in the bombings.
Four suicide bomb attacks targeted two synagogues on Nov. 15. Five days later, suicide bombers attacked the British Consulate and a London-based British bank, also in Istanbul.
The intelligence official said that Yitiz told interrogators that he underwent three months of training in explosives and martial arts in an al-Qaida camp in 1994. The official said the four suicide bombers in the synagogue attacks, all Turkish nationals, also trained in al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan.
Thirty-two suspects, including Yitiz, have been charged in the attacks.
In Istanbul on Monday, Rep. Christopher Cox, R-Calif., said Turkey and the United States needed to share more "information and resources" to fight terrorism.
"What happened last month is a clear illustration that terrorism knows no borders," said Cox, who headed an eight-member delegation to Turkey and chairs the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee.
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