Al-Qaeda claims Istanbul blasts

A London-based Arabic newspaper on Sunday said it had received a statement asserting Al-Qaeda responsibility for the suicide bombings near two Istanbul synagogues.

A group linked to the Al-Qaeda, the Abu Hafz al-Masri Brigades, said in a statement to Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper that it "struck a mortal blow after having kept Jewish intelligence agents under surveillance and determined that five of them were in two synagogues in the centre of Istanbul".

"We tell the criminal Bush and his Arab and Western tails -- especially Britain, Italy, Australia and Japan -- that cars of death will not stop at Baghdad, Riyadh, Istanbul, Nasiriyah, Jakarta, etc, until you see them with your own eyes in the middle of the capital of this era's tyrant, America," the statement said.