Foreign Office fearful of further attacks in Turkey
The Foreign Office has warned of possible further attacks in Turkey, where at least 27 people were killed and an estimated 450 injured yesterday in two massive bomb blasts.
The explosions devastated the British consulate in Istanbul and the HSBC headquarters.
The attacks have been interpreted as direct assaults on British interests abroad.
At least four Britons were killed, including the British-Consul general Roger Short.
Foreign secretary Jack Straw said Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda terror network was likely to be behind the attacks.
Mr Straw said the attack on the consulate was “an atrocity against all our civilisations.”
The militant Islamic Great Eastern Raiders’ Front, or IBDA-C, has also been pinpointed as a potential culprit.
British businesses in Istanbul are on full alert and US firm Citibank has closed all its branches in Turkey.
The US said it had closed its consulate in Istanbul to the public and as a precaution advised US citizens to avoid visiting the building.
Mr Straw described the scene in Istanbul as one of “complete devastation.”
