Al-Qaida says it bombed temples

ISTANBUL, Turkey - Two Arabic-language newspapers received separate statements Sunday claiming the Al-Qaida terrorist network carried out the car bombings outside two Istanbul synagogues - attacks that killed 23 people.

A statement received by the London daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi, a copy of which was obtained by the Associated Press, said a unit of al-Qaida executed the attack on Saturday because it learned that agents of the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad were inside.

Abdel Bari Atwan, the newspaper's editor, told the pan-Arab cable station al-Jazeera that the claim was received by e-mail from the Abu Hafs al-Masri brigades, which is suspected of links to al-Qaida and which has sent at least three similar claims to the paper regarding previous attacks.

Another e-mailed claim of responsibility sent to the London weekly Al-Majalla said al-Qaida carried out the Istanbul attacks as well as the car bomb outside Italian police headquarters in Nasiriyah, Iraq, on Nov. 12 that killed 19 Italians and more than a dozen Iraqis. Al-Majalla, which does not publish until Friday, provided excerpts of the e-mail to the AP.

The newspaper said the claim received Sunday was signed by an al-Qaida operative identified as Abu Mohammed al-Ablaj, who officials in Washington have said is believed to be linked to the terrorist network headed by Osama bin Laden.

Israeli intelligence and explosives experts have teamed with Turkish investigators to investigate the bombings, which wounded more than 300 people, both Jews at the synagogues and Muslim bystanders on the streets.

The Turkish Interior Ministry declined to comment on the reported claims of responsibility.

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