Suicide car bombers attacked two synagogues in downtown Istanbul at almost the same time Saturday, killing 23 people, the interior minister said.

One explosion went off outside the Neve Shalom synagogue, the city's largest. The other severely damaged the Beth Israel Synagogue in the affluent district of Sisli, three miles away.

An outlawed Turkish radical group called the Great Eastern Islamic Raiders' Front claimed responsibility, the semi-official Anatolia news agency said.

Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu said 23 people were killed, while Anatolia said more than 80 were wounded. He said both attacks were suicide car bombings.

Television footage showed medical teams carrying away several people, some with bloodied or charred faces. Private NTV television showed the twisted wreckage of a car and a huge crater in front of the Neve Shalom.

NTV television said a red car was seen parked just before the explosion in front of the Neve Shalom. Police suspected that the car may have been laden with bombs, NTV said.

In 1986, gunmen killed 22 worshippers and wounded six during a Sabbath service at the Neve Shalom synagogue. The Iranian-backed Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah carried out a bomb attack against the synagogue in 1992, but no one was injured.

(China Daily November 15, 2003)