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The group claiming responsibility for the Istanbul truck bombings Saturday , the Brigades of the Martyr Abu Hafz al-Masri, is the same one that claimed responsibility for the bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad in August.
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The group is supposedly named for an Egyptian lieutenant of Usama bin Laden, Mohammed Atef, who the US is believed to have killed in a December 2001 strike in Afghanistan.
What does it mean that an Al Qaeda linked group is striking targets in both Baghdad and Istanbul, places that hadn't seen Al Qaeda terrorism before six months ago? Turkish sources told the western media on Sunday that it now appears that the Istanbul bombings were carried out by suicide bombers in pick up trucks. Initially they reported that DNA testing showed that the two suicide attackers were of Arab descent (e.g. not Turkish), but later reports suggested Turks may also have been involved.
The group threatens more truck bombings in the US, Britain, Australia, Italy and Japan. One thing struck me when reading the group's manifesto justifying its bombing of the UN HQ in Baghdad: whoever did this is evil, but not stupid. They name UN resolutions and discuss multiple interventions, through the filter of perceived injustice and second class treatment for Muslims globally. They name some of the UN officials who were working in Baghdad that they killed, and justify killing them, by name. In other words, these are not just targets of opportunity, but a bit more carefully chosen. But to persuade who?