Police seize Turkish Qaeda leader: Report

Istanbul, Dec 9: Turkish police have detained a lawyer whoadmitted he was the leader of al Qaeda in Turkey, Anatolian News Agencyreported today.

Nine other suspects were also held.

Police seized bomb-making material and a compact disc set toexplode when inserted into a computer -- the first time Turkish policehad got hold of such a device -- the state-run agency said.

They also found maps of an oil refinery owned by the Tupras group in the house, the agency said.

Police could not confirm the report.

CNN Turk said the leader was a 25-year-old lawyer and two of thesuspects were also members of the Great Islamic Eastern Warriors Front(IBDA-C), Anatolian said.

That group claimed joint responsibility with al Qaeda for twobombings at Istanbul synagogues and attacks on a British consulate andthe HSBC bank in November 2003, in which more than 60 people werekilled.

IBDA-C, on the European Union's terrorist list, is made up of Sunni Muslims seeking to create an Islamic state in Turkey.

The police swoop in Istanbul, Ankara and the western province ofIzmir came after a year-long investigation and was carried out at theend of November, when Pope Benedict was visiting Turkey, privatetelevision NTV reported.

But no plans or information were found to suggest an attack wasplanned against the Pope, whose historic trip to Turkey was his firstofficial visit to a Muslim country and was seen as a bid to improverelations between Christians and Muslims.

NTV had earlier this month reported several al Qaeda-linked detentions during the Pope's visit, without giving details.

Mainly Muslim but secular Turkey has arrested several al Qaeda suspects in recent years.

Reuters