March 9, 2004 attack of Istanbul restaurant
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An attack of an Istanbul restaurant on March 9, 2004 killed one, and injured five. Two militant Islamic fundamentalists, one calling himself Abdullah Islam, entered a restaurant frequented by freemasons in the Kartal district of Istanbul holding automatic weapons and strapped with 10 homemade pipe bombs on their flak jackets.
They shot the guard in his feet and entered the dining hall where they began shooting at 40 people in the room. They then detonated bombs at the entrance killing a waiter. In total, one dead, five injured. One of the militants died, another was in critical condition. This attack occurred 911 days since 9/11. [1] (http://www.winktv.com/x8791.xml)
Turkey has five Masonic organizations dating back to the days of French and British influence. The organizations are said to have over 10,000 members total but they are mistrusted because of a perception of Jewish membership and rumors of Jewish ritual practices.
A statement was received by the newspaper Al-Quds al-Arabi on March 11 which claimed that an al-Qaida affliated group, Jund al-Quds or Soldiers of Jerusalem had carried out the attack. The statement's primary purpose was to claim responsibility for the March 11, 2004 Madrid attacks.
External link
- News article (Reuters) (http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=472735§ion=news)