Istanbul bombing Follow Up: The SITE Institute, headed by Baghdad born terrorism analyst Rita Katz, has posted a translation of the statement by the of the Al Qaeda group claiming responsibility for the Saturday truck bombings of two Istanbul synagogues, which have now killed 24 people, here.

University of Michigan history professor and Middle East expert Juan Cole muses on the possible motive of the Istanbul attackers here. One interesting observation: Al Qaeda has morphed, and the term has now really become a short hand for Sunni Islamic terrorists, e.g. far mor dispersed and decentralized than the band of 5,000 committed jihadists who previously declared fealty to bin Laden directly (and trained in Afghanistan?)...

Turkish police continue to make progress in the investigation.

Posted by Laura at November 17, 2003 02:39 PM