2003 Istanbul bombings

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2003 Istanbul bombings
Map showing the locations of the bombing attacks
Location	Istanbul, Turkey
Date	First attacks – 15 November 2003: 9:30 a.m. (first explosion) 9:34 a.m. (second explosion) Second attacks – 20 November 2003: 10:55 a.m. (first explosion) 11:00 a.m. (second explosion) (UTC+02:00)
Target	First attacks: The Bet Israel Synagogue in Şişli and the Neve Shalom Synagogue in Beyoğlu Second attacks: The British Consulate in Beyoğlu and the HSBC General Directorate building in Beşiktaş
Attack type	Mass bombing
Weapons	Trucks laiden with improvised explosive device made of ammonium nitrate and nitrocellulose
Deaths	55 civilians, 4 bombers
Injured	Over 750
Perpetrator	al-Qaeda
Motive	Islamic terrorism

Suicide attacks in Turkey
Aftermath of the Suruç bombing in 2015
Groups responsible
Al-Qaeda Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Kurdistan Freedom Hawks Kurdistan Workers' Party Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front
Attacks
Tunceli Istanbul (1st) Istanbul (2nd) Istanbul (3rd) Istanbul (4th) Ankara Istanbul (5th) Istanbul (6th) Şanlıurfa Ankara (2nd) Istanbul (7th) Ankara (3rd) Ankara (4th) Istanbul (8th) Bursa Gaziantep Istanbul (9th) Istanbul (10th) Elazığ Gaziantep (2nd) Şırnak Hakkari Diyarbakır Istanbul (11th) Kayseri Hatay Ankara (5th)
v t e

The 2003 Istanbul bombings were a series of suicide attacks carried out with trucks fitted with bombs detonated at four different locations in Istanbul, Turkey, on 15 and 20 November 2003.

On 15 November, two truck bombs were detonated, one in front of the Bet Israel Synagogue in Şişli at around 9:30 a.m. local time (UTC+2.00) and another in front of the Neve Shalom Synagogue in Beyoğlu at around 9:34 a.m. As a result of these bombings, 28 people died, included the attackers, and more than 300 people were wounded. Five days after the first attacks, on 20 November, two different attacks were perpetrated against the British Consulate General at around 10:55 a.m. and the HSBC General Headquarters in Beşiktaş at around 11:00 a.m., again using truck bombs. In the second round of attacks, 31 people lost their lives and more than 450 were injured. In total, 59 people died, including the four suicide bombers, and more than 750 were wounded in the bombings.

Investigations launched in the wake of the attacks determined that Al-Qaeda had orchestrated the bombings. The criminal case that began with 69 defendants and, with additions, included 76 defendants in February 2004 regarding the attacks concluded in April 2007 with the sentencing of 49 defendants, of whom seven were sentenced to life in prison, to various periods of incarceration. Some of the figures allegedly from the upper echelons of the militant organization fled to Iraq after the attacks and died there, while a portion were captured by security forces. After a retrial held because the Court of Cassation reversed some of the verdicts delivered in the initial trial, 16 defendants were not sentenced to prison.