Istanbul bombers met bin Laden

Adnan Ersoz, one of the 69 persons on trial for their part in the bombing of two synagogues, the British consulate and the headquarters of the HSBC Bank in Istanbul last year, said that members of the group had met with bin Laden and other leaders of al Qaeda in Afghanistan well before the attacks. Sixty one people were killed in the four blasts and more than 600 wounded.
Ersoz said that he had arranged the meetings for Habib Akdas, one of the alleged ring leaders of the group of bombers. Ersoz said that he had been told that up to $150,000 had been supplied by overseas terrorist groups to stage attacks in Turkey.