March 9, 2004 attack of Istanbul restaurant

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An attack of an Istanbul restaurant on March 9, 2004 killed Hüseyin Kurugöl, a waiter in the restaurant, and injured five. Two Islamic militants, Engin Vural and Nihat Doğruel, entered a restaurant frequented by freemasons in the Kartal district of Istanbul, Turkey. The men were holding automatic weapons and had strapped their flak jackets with 10 homemade pipe bombs.

They shot the guard in his feet and entered the dining hall where they began shooting at 40 people in the room. They then detonated bombs at the entrance, killing a waiter. One of the militants died, the other was seriously hurt. This attack occurred 911 days since 9/11.^[1]

A statement was received by the newspaper Al-Quds al-Arabi on March 11, which claimed that an al-Qaeda affiliated group, Jund al-Quds, or Soldiers of Jerusalem, had carried out the attack. The statement's primary purpose was to claim responsibility for the March 11, 2004 Madrid attacks.

In August 2004, the trial of the suspects began. While Turkish authorities said there was likely an al-Qaeda link, the surviving bomber, Engin Vural, claimed it was an independent act he planned along with the dead bomber, Nihat Doğruel. The prosecution charged that a man named Adem Çetinkaya, who was also charged, organized the attack and was also planning to bomb a private television station.

Turkey has five Masonic organizations dating back to the days of French and British influence. The organizations are said to have over 10,000 members. Freemasonists are considered as pro-Zionist among Islamist circles in Turkey.