ISTANBUL - The State Security Court (DGM) released nine people who were detained early on the same day in Istanbul on charges of having links to illegal Ansar al-Islam organization.
Prosecutor Ahmet Ayvaz interrogated those nine people after completion of procedures at the Istanbul Anti-Terrorism Department.
Prosecutor Ayvaz decided on release of those people as they ''don't have any links to Ansar al-Islam''.
Sources said that the nine people who are working at an electronics company in Tahtakale district of Istanbul were detained on charges of having links to a person who is among the sixteen people who were detained in northwestern province of Bursa under an operation against Ansar Al-Islam organization.
Earlier in the day, Turkish police detained 16 people, who were getting prepared for a bomb attack targeting a NATO summit in Istanbul on June 28-29, in Bursa province in Marmara Region. The detainees who were reported to have links with Ansar al-Islam were also planning a bomb attack on a synagogue in the province.
Ansar al-Islam is a militant group accused by Washington of being an ally of al Qaeda and a force behind attacks on U.S. troops occupying Iraq.
Turkish police are stepping up security in Istanbul, Turkey's largest city and commercial hub, before the NATO summit, where Iraq will feature on the leaders' agenda.
Istanbul suffered a series of devastating suicide truck bomb attacks targeting Neve Shalom Synagogue and Beth Israel Synagogue on November 15, 2003 and on HSBC Bank headquarters and British Consulate General in Istanbul on November 20, 2003 in which 61 people were killed and more than 700 people were injured. Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for those attacks. Turkish police captured 69 people in connection with the suicide attacks. Istanbul State Security Court (DGM) will start hearing trial of the 69 suspects in Istanbul on May 31, 2004.
(MS-AÖ) 03.05.2004