Turkey charges seven people with claims of having al-Qaeda links
Güncelleme Tarihi:
A Turkish court on Friday charged seven men with links to al-Qaeda and remanded them to custody, the Anatolia news agency reported.
The suspects were among 28 people rounded up in simultaneous raids Thursday by anti-terror police and the national intelligence agency in the western province of Eskisehir.
The court charged the seven men with "membership of a terrorist organisation and spreading propaganda" and jailed them pending trial, the report said. The remaining 21 suspects were released without charges.
Last month, a Turkish newspaper reported that Ankara had received US intelligence that al-Qaeda militants could be plotting attacks on foreign targets in Turkey.
A Turkish cell of al-Qaeda was held responsible for truck bombs against two synagogues, the British consulate and a British bank in Istanbul in 2003, which killed 63 people and left hundreds injured.
Seven men were jailed for life in 2007 over the bombings, among them a Syrian national who masterminded and financed the attacks.
In January, a suspected al-Qaeda militant was killed and three others captured in a shootout with the police in Istanbul after the group attempted to rob a post office.