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At least 20 people have been killed by explosions outside two synagogues in the Turkish city of Istanbul.
Turkish officials said car bombs rocked Istanbul's largest synagogue, the Neve Shalom, and another synagogue nearby.
A radical Turkish Islamist group, known as the Great Eastern Islamic Raiders' Front, said it was responsible, but the claim is being treated with scepticism.
The Turkish Foreign Minister, Abdullah Gul, said he believed suicide bombers were behind the blasts.
"It is clear that this is a terrorist event with international links," he said.
Israel has denounced the blasts as "criminal terror attacks".
'Huge panic'
The car bombs exploded outside the synagogues at about 1000 (0700 GMT) as worshippers were holding Sabbath morning prayers.
The facade of Neve Shalom collapsed and the second synagogue, the Beth Israel, about five kilometres (3 miles) away in Sisli district, was also severely damaged.
"The blast went off in the middle of the prayer," Turkish Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Haleva said of the explosion at Neve Shalom.
"All the windows were shattered and I suddenly found myself surrounded by thick smoke."
Eyewitness Enver Eker, who was near Neve Shalom went the bomb went off, said: "There was huge panic, glass exploding and metal pieces all over the place.
Istanbul health officials said 20 people had been killed and 257 people wounded.
Television footage showed wounded people staggering in the street, some with bloodied or charred faces.
The BBC's Steve Bryant in Istanbul says weeping people were searching for missing relatives, having found no news of them in hospitals across the city.
He says many of the dead were passers-by or local shopkeepers.
The powerful blasts turned cars into mangled wrecks and shattered windows across a wide area.
"It was like a war zone," said eyewitness Sadettin Gul.
Police and forensic teams are combing through the rubble at the centre of the blast for evidence about who carried out the attacks.
Film from security cameras at Neve Shalom showed someone park a car and walk away before it blew up, police told the Turkish Anatolia news agency.
The Neve Shalom synagogue, where most of the deaths reportedly occurred, was the scene of an earlier attack in 1986, when Palestinian gunmen killed 22 worshippers and wounded six others during a Sabbath service.
It was also bombed by the Hezbollah militant group in 1992, but no-one was injured.
Foreign forces?
A caller claiming to be from a radical Turkish group, Great Eastern Islamic Raiders' Front - also known as IBDA/C - said it carried out the attack, Anatolia reported.
The caller was quoted as saying: "The reason [for the attacks] is to stop the oppression of the Muslims... Our acts will continue."
The IBDA/C carried out a series of attacks around Istanbul in the 1990s, but has since been largely dismantled by Turkish security forces.
Turkish officials are sceptical about the claim and are examining whether foreign groups were behind the attack.
"An incident of such a scale might not be just the work of a domestic organisation," said Turkish Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu.
Our correspondent says there had been no warning of any attacks against Jewish targets in the city.
He says Istanbul has a small Jewish community that generally has very good relationships with other Turks.
Source : BBCnews.co.uk
Turkish officials said car bombs rocked Istanbul's largest synagogue, the Neve Shalom, and another synagogue nearby.
A radical Turkish Islamist group, known as the Great Eastern Islamic Raiders' Front, said it was responsible, but the claim is being treated with scepticism.
The Turkish Foreign Minister, Abdullah Gul, said he believed suicide bombers were behind the blasts.
"It is clear that this is a terrorist event with international links," he said.
Israel has denounced the blasts as "criminal terror attacks".
'Huge panic'
The car bombs exploded outside the synagogues at about 1000 (0700 GMT) as worshippers were holding Sabbath morning prayers.
The facade of Neve Shalom collapsed and the second synagogue, the Beth Israel, about five kilometres (3 miles) away in Sisli district, was also severely damaged.
"The blast went off in the middle of the prayer," Turkish Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Haleva said of the explosion at Neve Shalom.
"All the windows were shattered and I suddenly found myself surrounded by thick smoke."
Eyewitness Enver Eker, who was near Neve Shalom went the bomb went off, said: "There was huge panic, glass exploding and metal pieces all over the place.
Istanbul health officials said 20 people had been killed and 257 people wounded.
Television footage showed wounded people staggering in the street, some with bloodied or charred faces.
The BBC's Steve Bryant in Istanbul says weeping people were searching for missing relatives, having found no news of them in hospitals across the city.
He says many of the dead were passers-by or local shopkeepers.
The powerful blasts turned cars into mangled wrecks and shattered windows across a wide area.
"It was like a war zone," said eyewitness Sadettin Gul.
Police and forensic teams are combing through the rubble at the centre of the blast for evidence about who carried out the attacks.
Film from security cameras at Neve Shalom showed someone park a car and walk away before it blew up, police told the Turkish Anatolia news agency.
The Neve Shalom synagogue, where most of the deaths reportedly occurred, was the scene of an earlier attack in 1986, when Palestinian gunmen killed 22 worshippers and wounded six others during a Sabbath service.
It was also bombed by the Hezbollah militant group in 1992, but no-one was injured.
Foreign forces?
A caller claiming to be from a radical Turkish group, Great Eastern Islamic Raiders' Front - also known as IBDA/C - said it carried out the attack, Anatolia reported.
The caller was quoted as saying: "The reason [for the attacks] is to stop the oppression of the Muslims... Our acts will continue."
The IBDA/C carried out a series of attacks around Istanbul in the 1990s, but has since been largely dismantled by Turkish security forces.
Turkish officials are sceptical about the claim and are examining whether foreign groups were behind the attack.
"An incident of such a scale might not be just the work of a domestic organisation," said Turkish Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu.
Our correspondent says there had been no warning of any attacks against Jewish targets in the city.
He says Istanbul has a small Jewish community that generally has very good relationships with other Turks.
Source : BBCnews.co.uk
