Turkish police uncovered and foiled a plot by Al-Qaeda to bomb the US embassy in Ankara, as well as a synagogue and other targets in Istanbul, the Turkish media reported.
As a result of a February raid in Istanbul and the northeastern city of Corlu, police had arrested 12 people, including eight Turks, two Azeris and two Chechens, and seized 22 kilogrammes of explosives, CNNTurk reported.
Forensic analysis of the gathered evidence revealed preparations for bomb attacks on the embassy, a synagogue in the Balat district of Istanbul and the private Rahmi M. Koc Museum, also in Istanbul. Photographs, floor plans and other information were found concerning those targets and the residences and offices of two well-known Turks, according to the press reports.
The US embassy in the Turkish capital Ankara was already the target of a suicide bombing on February 1, which killed a Turkish security guard.
That attack was claimed by a radical Marxist and anti-US armed group, The Revolutionary People's Liberation Front (DHKP-C), blacklisted by the US and the European Union as a terrorist organisation.
After the bombing, the US Embassy issued a travel warning for American citizens traveling to Turkey, but the embassy said at the time that the Turkish National Police had not provided specific information about potential targets.