Turkey/Al Qaida

Turkish police arrest 17 in anti-Al-Qaeda raids

Article published on the 2009-04-21 Latest update 2009-04-21 11:05 TU

Demonstrators oppose a broadening investigation into an alleged plot against the AKP government at the shrine of Turkey's founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, on Saturday
(Photo: Reuters)

Turkish police detained 17 people on Tuesday in an operation against Al-Qaeda in four provinces on Tuesday. Officials claim that the houses which they raided were bases for cells of the Islamist network.

Eleven of the suspects were arrested in the southern province of Gaziantep, where security forces backed up by armoured vehicles raided several locations in two districts in the early morning.

In the neighbouring provinces of Sanliurfa and Adana police arrested  four people and two others were detained in the central city of Konya.

After being interrogated by police, they will appear in court to see if they will be formally charged.

Earlier this month seven people accused of links to Al-Qaeda were arrested in the western province of Eskisehir. A Turkish newspapers reported in March that Ankara had received US intelligence that Al-Qaeda was plotting attacks on foreign targets in Turkey.

In 2003 truck bombs were used against two synagogues, the British consulate and a British bank in Istanbul, killing 63 people. Seven men, one of them a Syrian national, were jailed for life over the bombings in 2007.

In January an alleged Al-Qaeda member was killed and three others captured in a shootout with police in Istanbul after an attempted post office robbery.

The main opposition parties accuse the ruling AKP, which originated in the Islamist movement, of having a hidden agenda to destroy the country's secular constitution. Mass demonstrations at the weekend accused the AKP of using an alleged coup plot as an excuse to arrest opponents.