|
Trending Topics
|
Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/12/AR2007021201715.html
Al-Qaeda's Hand In Istanbul Plot, Turks Met with Bin Laden
[Washington Post] Karl Vick - About a week before Sept. 11, 2001, Osama bin Laden met in the Afghan city of Kandahar with guests from Turkey who had arrived with a plan for a spectacular terrorist strike. Al-Qaeda's military commander gave the visitors $10,000 in cash and crucial words of guidance. So began a plot that ended in November 2003 with the staggered detonation of four powerful truck bombs in Istanbul, which killed 58 people and wounded 750. The continuing trial of about 70 defendants in Istanbul provides a rare, fine-grained look at the inner workings of a terrorist bomb plot. Al-Qaeda operative Louai Sakka, a Syrian, delivered $100,000 to the conspirators.