Many die in Istanbul blasts
Bomb attacks on the British consulate and the HSBC bank headquarters in Istanbul have left at least 25 dead and more than 300 injured.
The explosions come just days after 23 people died in suicide bombings on two synagogues in the city.

UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw condemned what he described as an "appalling act of terrorism" saying it had all the hallmarks of al-Qaeda and associated organisations.

Turkish government spokesman Cemil Cicek said the attacks were carried out by suicide car bombers.

The 15-storey headquarters of the London-based bank towers over a busy shopping area, which correspondents say would have been crowded when the explosion occurred at 1110 Turkish time.

The consulate bomb occurred two minutes later.

A White House spokesman said Washington was monitoring the situation.

A man who called the semi-official Anatolia news agency claimed that Al-Qaeda and the Turkish Islamic militant group IBDA-C had jointly carried out the attacks.

Turkish Foreign Minister Abullah Gul said Turkey would not bow to terror.

"We are faced with organised terrorist attacks," he said. "This time it was British interests, last week it was two synagogues."

The BBC's Steve Bryant, in Istanbul, says the city is in chaos.

There is collapsed masonry, shattered windows, burned out cars and general scenes of confusion at the two sites. Much of the city's phone network has been cut.

Hospitals are inundated with hundreds of wounded people, traffic is blocking the roads and crisis officials are asking people to leave the centre to clear the way for ambulances.

"The damage is very extensive. I've been told that there are people lying around... Civilians are carrying people away from the scene," said an English teacher at a school next to the consulate, Chris Kitrinos.

Trading on the Istanbul stock exchange was suspended after the explosions and the Turkish lira dived on foreign exchange markets.

A group claiming to be linked to al-Qaeda also claimed responsibility for the synagogue attacks last Saturday.

It warned that new attacks against the US and its allies were being planned.

The Foreign Office in London issued the following number for people to call for information about those who may have been involved in the blasts: 020 7008 0000.

<font color="#C4C1CA">I would like to take this opportunity to thank Messrs Blair and Bush for making my fellow countrymen legitimate targets of violence.
The anger I feel towards those two is unparalleled in its ferocity. How many more have to die before they return to the fold of the law-abiding???</font>

I don't know if you were around when I posted this. An extended metaphor equating the spread and treatment of cancer with the war on terrorism.

As I said, it's only a matter of time now before London is hit. Blair was told by British Intelligence before the Iraq war that there would be an increased chance that Britain would be targetted.

<font color="cyan">Had to be Turkey.

I fear for the safety of Cockneys.</font>

Well, I guess that the only good point is that chemicals haven't been used yet.

<font color="cyan">Yes Horatio, I agree. That would be worse than death itself.</font>

Thing is, they're probably saving it all for London. This is different from the IRA bombings. They're not trying to create a disturbance, they're trying to kill as many people as possible.

This is a terrible terrible news... :(

But here is something that I think is even more scary...
I read in a paper that George Bush said that finding Osama Bin Laden is not their goal anymore. Wait wasn't the whole "War On terrorism" debacle supposed to "end" terrorism, to free the western world of terrorism. Far as I can tell, Al Qaida is still bombing, killing hundreds of people every week, Osama is still alive and the people of Iraq are about as free as a goat chained to a... okey you get the point...
So does this mean the war is over... and thet "we" lost? We are no longer going after the main source of terrorism in the world, the head honcho the main bad guy... so what are we doing? Bombing countries so Cheney can move his corporations in and make more money on contracts? Stealing the last remaining oil resources? Solving the violence in schools problem by sending kids to Iraq to get shot?


Sorry I'm just baffled? please explain