ISTANBUL - Istanbul Police Department said on Friday that assailants of the bomb attack on a Masonic Lodge in Kartal district of Istanbul were identified.
A statement of the Police Department said that the suicide bomber, who was injured in Tuesday's attack on the Masonic Lodge and who was taken under treatment in a hospital, was identified as Engin Vural.
The statement noted that Vural was born in central Karaman province in 1971.
The suicide bomber who died in the attack was identified as Nihat Dogruel, the statement pointed out.
The statement said that Dogruel was born in Ankara in 1978.
Both of the suicide bombers were identified by their families, the statement noted.
In the statement, the Police Department also said that one of the guns found in the Masonic Lodge in Kartal after the suicide attack was used in killing of a dentist named Yasef Yahya in Sisli district of Istanbul on August 21, 2003.
The statement read that two guns, four petrol bombs which were not detonated, two petrol bombs which were detonated, 11 pipe bombs which were not detonated and empty cartridge cases were found at the scene of the explosion.
One suicide bomber and one waiter died in the explosion that took place in Kartal district of Istanbul as the terrorist detonated the bomb on himself.
Two terrorists came to the three-storey building of Masonic Lodge around 10.10 p.m. on Tuesday, shot the security guard in the feet, opened fire on the building from the window, and entered the restaurant inside the building.
One terrorist was killed when he detonated the bomb on himself at the entrance and one waiter who was near him died in the explosion.
The second terrorist was seriously wounded and hospitalized.
Five other people who were among those dining in the restaurant were also wounded.
(BRC) 12.03.2004