Istanbul
Four small bombs exploded outside branches of a British bank in Istanbul and Ankara this week, just hours before British Prime Minister Tony Blair arrived on a visit to Turkey. No one was injured, but one HSBC branch was damaged. British sites have been targeted in Turkey before; last November, 30 people were killed when bombs went off at an HSBC office and at the British Consulate in Istanbul. Dozens of people were arrested in connection with that attack, and several had trained with al Qaida in Afghanistan. Britain is a close ally of Turkey and a strong supporter of Turkish membership in the E.U.
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