Police hold man suspected of planning Istanbul bombing

ISTANBUL - Turkish police have arrested a man they suspect helped plan a suicide bomb attack on a synagogue earlier this month, state-run Anatolian news agency said on Saturday.

The bombing of the Beth Israel synagogue was one of four attacks on British and Jewish targets this month that killed more than 50 people and injured hundreds more.

"The man was arrested as he tried to leave the country," Anatolian quoted deputy Istanbul police chief Halil Yilmaz as saying. Prosecutors have already charged several people in connection with the bombings.

Police suspect the man ordered the bombing of the Beth Israel synagogue and had visited the area of the synagogue on several occasions prior to the attack, Anatolian said.

Turkish prosecutors accompanied an unidentified man to the bomb site earlier on Saturday and the local NTV television said it was the same man who had been arrested.

The Turkish courts have now charged more than 20 people they say are linked to the bombings.

Suicide bombers struck two synagogues on November 15 and the offices of British-based bank HSBC and the British consulate five days later.

- REUTERS