Enlarge imageBy Daren Butler
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turks will stage silent "peace protests" after four truck bombings claimed by groups boasting links to al Qaeda killed more than 50 people in the worst week of peacetime violence in Turkey’s modern history.
Hurriyet newspaper reported on Saturday anti-terrorist police had detained 18 people in a sweep of three Istanbul districts and that all police leave had been cancelled. Police were not immediately available to comment on the report.
Authorities said on Friday several people had been arrested over Thursday’s two blasts but gave no further details.
U.S. President George W. Bush said Turkey, a NATO ally long held up by the United States as a model for Islamic democracy, had become a new front in the "war on terror".
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A statement purporting to come from a unit of Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda network said it carried out the twin strikes on the British consulate and the London-based HSBC bank, which killed at least 27 people and wounded more than 400.
Five days earlier 25 people were killed in similar suicide attacks on two synagogues. Israeli intelligence said it had sent agents to help investigate the attacks and British anti-terrorist police are also working with Turkish authorities.
A small Turkish radical Islamist group has also claimed joint responsibility with al Qaeda for the carnage.
Turkey’s National Security Council, an advisory body grouping political leaders and influential military commanders, issued a statement late on Friday saying Turkey was determined to beat international terrorism.
Turkish newspapers said the council had examined a report about Turkish Islamic militants who had trained abroad and fought in Chechnya, Bosnia and Afghanistan.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan was due to attend the funeral on Saturday of a police officer killed in one of the blasts.
HORROR AND FEAR
Turkish trade unionists and non-governmental groups appealed to people to turn out in major cities to show their revulsion at the blasts, whose victims included Muslims, Jews and Christians.
As the Muslim world gears up for the annual religious holiday at the end of Ramadan, anger on Turkish streets was tinged with deep unease about possible further attacks.
"Istiklal (Istanbul’s main pedestrian thoroughfare) is as crowded as ever, but there is fear here now. People know an explosion could occur at any time," said Ahmet Kerim, 30.
His family store lost its windows in one of the Thursday blasts which devastated Britain’s consulate across the road.
"It’s dangerous being so close to a church. Not enough is being done to protect sensitive spots around here," he said, standing just two doors down from an Italian Catholic church.
Other shopowners whose windows had been shattered by the blasts said they would keep a constant vigil, fearing looters.
The United States joined Britain in warning its citizens to defer non-essential travel to Turkey.
NATO Secretary-General George Robertson vowed the military alliance would go ahead with its summit in Istanbul next June.
A statement apparently from a unit of al Qaeda called the Abu Hafz al-Masri Brigades said it had carried out the latest attacks. It could not be independently authenticated.
The claim said Turkey was targeted because of its membership of the "crusader" NATO alliance and its ties with Israel.
A Turkish group called the Islamic Great Eastern Raiders Front (IBDA-C) has also claimed joint responsibility with al Qaeda for all four Istanbul attacks.
