WASHINGTON – Two alleged ringleaders of last month’s bombings in Turkey repeatedly met with Osama bin Laden’s right-hand man, Ayman al-Zawahiri, it was disclosed yesterday.
Three Turkish newspapers report that Turkish Islamic militants Azad Ekinci and Habib Aktas, the primary suspects in the Nov. 15 bombings of two synagogues and the Nov. 20 bombings of the British Consulate and a British bank, met al-Zawahiri several times.
The newspaper Hurriyet quoted testimony of another captured suspect, Yusuf Polat, telling police the two terrorists “were the only ones to meet with al-Zawahiri.”
“The instructions came from him. They would meet with him at least three times a year, using false identity documents.”
It was unclear from the reports when these meetings took place.