Reports: 120 al-Qaida suspects detained in Turkey

[January 22, 2010]  ANKARA, Turkey (AP) -- Turkish police on Friday rounded up 120 people suspected of links to the al-Qaida terror network in simultaneous pre-dawn raids in 16 provinces, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported.

It was not clear if Friday's detentions would amount to a major blow to homegrown Islamic militants allegedly affiliated with al-Qaida. Turkey has carried out similar raids against alleged al-Qaida suspects in the past year.

The arrests follows another raid on suspected militants in the cities Ankara and Adana last week in which police rounded up and interrogated some 40 people and reportedly seized documents detailing al-Qaida activities. Twenty-five of them were charged with membership in a terrorist organization while the rest were released.

Those detained Friday include a faculty member of the Yuzunci Yil University in the eastern city of Van, who is suspected of recruiting students at the campus and other people through the Internet and of sending them to Afghanistan for training, Anatolia reported, citing unnamed police officials. The suspect was identified by his initials M.E.Y. only.

Anatolia said other suspects included some local leaders, university students, and people believed to be spreading al-Qaida propaganda.

Police seized documents and computer hard-disks during Friday's raids, it said.

Police would not comment on the arrests Friday.

Homegrown Islamic militants tied to the al-Qaida carried out suicide bombings in Istanbul, killing 58 people in 2003. The targets were the British consulate, a British bank and two Jewish synagogues. In 2008, an attack blamed on al-Qaida-affiliated militants outside the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul left three assailants and three policemen dead.

Dozens of Islamic militants from Turkey have had military training in al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan, Turkish officials say.

However, Al-Qaida's austere and violent interpretation of Islam receives little public backing in Turkey.

Several other radical Islamic groups are active in Turkey, a predominantly Muslim but officially secular country.

[Associated Press]

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