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"Turkish police foil bombing in capital," by Selcan Hacaoglu for the Associated Press:
ANKARA, Turkey - Authorities thwarted a bombing, possibly timed to coincide with the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, as police found and defused more than 600 pounds of explosives Tuesday in a minibus parked near an Ankara market.
Turkey, a U.S. ally in the fight against global terrorism, has increased security on the anniversary of the 2001 attacks in the United States.
Sniffer dogs discovered the blue minibus at a multistory parking garage near an open food market. Its license plate was stolen from another vehicle, and the owner tipped police, the state-run Anatolia news agency said.
"A possible disaster has been prevented," Gov. Kemal Onal said as he announced the discovery at the site. Anatolia said a witness alleged that an unidentified man parked the vehicle around 6 a.m., saying he had brought goods to sell at the market.
Police evacuated houses and cordoned off the area, and explosive experts defused the bomb in three hours, Police Chief Ercument Yilmaz said.
Yilmaz did not reveal details of the bomb, but Turkish media citing other police sources said sacks of explosives were found, speculating that it could be ammonium nitrate or cheap fertilizer, an ingredient used to make bombs.
Suicide bombers linked to al-Qaida hit Istanbul in 2003 with truck bombs — containing ammonium nitrate-based bombs — killing 58 people in attacks that targeted two synagogues, the British Consulate and a British bank. In February, a court sentenced seven people to life in prison for the bombings.
Begin boilerplate:
Turkey, a predominantly Muslim but secular country is a key NATO ally that provides vital support to U.S. operations in Afghanistan and Iraq through Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey, one of the most important U.S. military assets in the region.
End boilerplate.
"Ankara's Sept. 11 has been prevented," private NTV television said on its Web site.
Posted by Marisol at September 11, 2007 1:56 PM
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Since the intended victims would have been Muslims, the perpetrators had to be some other religion...like maybe Christians or Buddhists.
Right?
Oh wait a minute... it was the joooooooz.
Posted by: Ynkedoodl2![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jihadwatch.org/nav-commenters.gif)
at September 11, 2007 2:04 PM
Allow me the liberty to edit the boilerplate statement:
Turkey, a predominantly Muslim but secular country on the surface is a key NATO ally that provides superficial support to U.S. operations in Afghanistan and Iraq through Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey, a U.S. military asset in the region that will be closed when Tyrkey becomes an Islamic state.
at September 11, 2007 2:09 PM
Marisol,
The "Begin boilerplate / End boilerplate" had me cracking up. Thanks for brightening my day.
Cheers
Posted by: Doctor Bulldog at September 11, 2007 2:27 PM
That boilerplate irritates me no end.
It reminds me of American Foreign policy in the area.
1. Bush making encouraging noises to the EU to allow Turkey to join.
Comment: WTF do you think you are recommending? There is no way I want more Muslims to roam around inside the EU. We have too many as it is. Thankfully France will scotch this one.
2. Bush making noises for independence of Serbian province Kosovo (I think to show Muslims countries that America is not hostile to Islamic countries)
Comment: Why dont you offer an American State for Muslims to freely rape rather than a piece of land that is far from the USA? For once I am very glad my Russian buddies have spoken up for the Serbs. There is no way I wish to give any further European land to Muslims - the situation is bad enough as it is.
at September 11, 2007 2:59 PM
At least Turkey is attempting to maintain a secular modern state. That's obviously too much for Islamists, the ultimate heresy, to attempt to avoid the dismal state of poverty and primitive thugishness of Afghanistan under the Taliban, or Iran under whatever backward moron is running it at the moment. Therefore, loads of people have to be blown to bits, be they Muslims, Christians, Jews, Men, Women, Children.
It's about time Islam stopped apologising for these murdering thugs, and got rid of them once and for all. There'd be less radical preachers, once a few were hanged publicly. Sauce for the goose, as they say.
at September 11, 2007 3:24 PM
"Why dont you offer an American State for Muslims to freely rape rather than a piece of land that is far from the USA?"
Interesting idea, UK Infidel Lover. Give 'em Michigan... or Minnesota...what the hell!
Posted by: Infidel33 at September 11, 2007 3:29 PM
They foiled another bomb plot in the Philippines set for the same day, too.
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=91818
...and have begun arresting abu-sayyef members as we speak.
Looks like the party, at least in part, was over before it started...but we're not done yet nailing them all...not by a longshot, time is a factor here.
Posted by: jcom972 at September 11, 2007 4:03 PM
Hey, kids, don't get carried away. There are no less than a dozen groups in Turkey that blow things up on an irregular basis for all sorts of reasons, very few of which having anything to do with Islam, the most active being the KGK, or Kongra Gel, a pro-Kurdish group. Someone will claim it, just stand by until they do.
Posted by: longtime lurker at September 11, 2007 4:03 PM
@longtime lurker
Good point, what I would like to see is our side's use of this information to have them blow each other up to our advantage. Now I know the State Dept. would think that is not playing fare or that would cause Turkey to go Islamic. I think I would be willing to sacrifice some of them for us. Its and dog eat dog war IMO.
Remember they would do it in a second if they thought they would get political capital out of it to advance Islam. Oh, that is probably why the bomb was planted in the first place. Not saying there could be local interests behind who done it.
Act 19:32
Inside, the people were all shouting, some one thing and some another. Everything was in confusion. In fact, most of them didn't even know why they were there.
at September 11, 2007 4:29 PM
i agree with UK Infidel. Europe needs to "just say no" to Turkey.
longtime has a point, but Turkey is in Al-Q's sights, and the timing points that way. anyway, we will see.
Posted by: M Al-Content at September 11, 2007 4:30 PM
Infidel 33:
They will get a mouthful of shotgun if they come to Minnesota.
at September 11, 2007 5:31 PM
Longtime lurker--
You have a point there. Given the size of the bomb, the method and date, I thought it was worth posting. If it turns out to be non-jihad, of course, I'll take it down.
Posted by: MarisolJW at September 11, 2007 7:20 PM
Sounds like the holier-than-thou crowd is revving up in Turkey. There's no such thing as being Islamic enough for those guys. They're on a rampage in Pakistan.
Posted by: jewdog at September 11, 2007 8:20 PM
I just read this posting (from yesterday) now and when reading the original AP article I noticed some interesting changes. The updated version is quite different from the original. The new one has a much heavier emphasis on possible Kurdish involvement and the threat of a Turkish cross-border excursion into Iraq. The Turkish government is not a stranger to meddling and manipulation. I wonder what the real story is here?
Posted by: Jen at September 12, 2007 1:40 PM
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