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The Insanity Continues
November 20, 2003
At Least 26 Killed, 400 Hurt as Bank and Consulate Are Bombed
By SEBNEM ARSU and CHRISTINE HAUSER

ISTANBUL, Nov. 20 — Two explosions rocked Istanbul today, one at the British consulate and the other at the British international bank HSBC, killing 26 people and wounding more than 400, the Turkish foreign ministry said.

The foreign minister, Abdulkadir Aksu, said two of those killed were policemen. "In today's attacks, there were again trucks loaded with explosives and it's highly likely that both were suicide attacks," he said.

International news agencies and the Turkish private television station NTV reported that the British Consul General, Roger Short, was among those killed in the attack. The reports quoted the religious affairs official of the consulate, Ian Sherwood.

The attacks came less than a week after suicide bomb blasts at two Jewish synagogues in the city; 25 people were killed in those attacks, including the bombers.

Windows were shattered in buildings in the vicinity of the bank, located near shops, restaurants, and a metro station on the busiest street of the upper middle class Levent neighborhood. Shocked victims rushed from the scene, their hands clamped on their wounds in an attempt to staunch the flow of blood.

"There was a massive explosion, I couldn't tell what was happening,"said a banker, Cigdem Dicle, who was coated with dust. Her suit was spattered with blood. "I was in shock. We immediately went down, everything happened in seconds."

The explosion at the consulate was so powerful that it blew off the outer wall, eyewitnesses said, and the force of the blast smashed windows and rocked houses nearby.

The selection of British targets coincided with the visit to Britain this week by President Bush. At a joint news conference with Prime Minister Tony Blair this morning in London, Mr. Bush said that terrorists hoped to intimidate and demoralize free nations, but "they are not going to succeed." He said Britain, the United States and other allies were "united in our determination to fight and defeat this evil wherever it is found."

Mr. Blair, a steadfast ally of the United States in the war in Iraq and the fight against terrorism, said: "Once again, we're reminded of the evil these terrorists pose to innocent people everywhere and to our way of life. "Once again, we must affirm that in the face of this terrorism there must be no holding back, no compromise, no hesitation in confronting this menace, in attacking it wherever and whenever we can, and in defeating it utterly."

Calling today's attacks a "terrorist outrage," Mr. Blair said an "unshakeable unity of purpose" was required to confront terrorism side by side with the United States.

No group claimed responsibility for the blasts, but the British foreign minister, Jack Straw, said "I'm afraid to say it has all the hallmarks of international terrorism practiced by Al Qaeda."

"At this stage we can't say for certain who is responsible," he said in remarks broadcast on television.

Mr. Straw said that three or four consulate employees did not show up for roll call after the blasts in Istanbul, which he called an "appalling act of terrorism." He did not give the nationalities of the employees.

The television station NTV reported that HSBC bank closed its branches in Turkey for security reasons, and that security was tightened at American institutions.

Uxval Gochez, a photographer and film-maker working in Istanbul for the Web site of The New York Times, said he heard an explosion this morning and headed in the direction of the blast. When he got to the British Consulate, he said, he saw a big cloud of ash and dust rising into the air.

"I approached the building and people started coming out, covered in blood, debris and glass," he said in a telephone interview. "There was confusion. Cars were flipped over."

He said he entered the consulate's compound. The outer wall had been blown out onto the street by the force of the blast, crushing cars. Windows of the building were shattered. A large crater and what looked like wreckage from a car bomb were directly in front of the security station, just inside the compound walls, he said.

"Many people with different levels of injuries were coming out of the building and making their way, assisted by other people," Mr. Gochez said.

The injured were also receiving first aid in the consulate garden.

CNN Turk, a local affiliate of CNN in Istanbul, quoted a witness, Mehmet Celik, as saying he saw a brown van with an open back driving toward the British consulate just before the blast.

A Turkish man, Gunduz Akyurek, and his friend were unloading their car across from the consulate when the explosion shook the Taksim neighborhood.

"The car hit the wall of the building," he said in an interview. "We were just about to rush to help whoever was inside, thinking that it was a traffic accident but we were thrown back by a huge explosion. I was in shock. I walked through people who were lying unconscious on the ground, and the car was upside down, partly destroyed."

Rescue workers said more victims could still be buried under rubble. They said today's attacks were similar to the ones at the synagogues, and that the same strong scent lingered, apparently from the explosions. Citizens crowded into hospitals to donate blood and search for relatives and friends.

At Taksim Hospital, Kadir Cetinkaya sobbed over the news that his niece and her husband were killed. "They worked at the consulate as the cleaning personnel," he said. "This is not fair!"

On Wednesday, Turkish authorities named two Turkish citizens as the suicide bombers who carried out the attacks on the synagogues last Saturday.

The Istanbul governor, Muammer Guler, said at a news conference on Wednesday that there were parallels with attacks by Al Qaeda. The bombings last Saturday were the worst terrorist attack in the republic's 80-year history.

At their news conference today, Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair put the attacks in the context of their efforts in Iraq.

"We will finish the job we have begun," Mr. Bush said, referring to Iraq. Mr. Blair, linking the response to the attacks in Turkey to strikes in Iraq and elsewhere, said: "Our response is not to flinch, give way or concede one inch."

Sebnem Arsu reported for this article from Istanbul and Christine Hauser from New York.



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