Police spokesmen would neither confirm nor deny the report.   Â
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Milliyet said a team of 15 militants trained in bomb-making -- among them Lebanese, Palestinians, Moroccans and Syrians -- were reported to have entered Turkey from neighboring Syria in January or February.
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The group, believed to be operating in the central provinces of Konya and Aksaray, could be planning attacks against foreign missions in Turkey, the daily said.
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And in a separate development, it said that a suspected militant who had come from Norway was believed to have been tasked with coordinating an attack against U.S. or Israeli aircraft.
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According to the information supplied by U.S. intelligence services, senior al Qaeda militants had decided at a recent meeting in Pakistan to focus on attack plans in Turkey and northern Afghanistan.
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A Turkish cell of al Qaeda was held responsible for four suicide bombings in Istanbul in November 2003, the deadliest terrorist attacks in Turkey so far.
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The suicide drivers detonated truck bombs first at two synagogues, and five days later at the British consulate and a British bank, killing a total of 63 people, injuring hundreds and causing widespread damage.
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Seven men were jailed for life over the bombings in 2007, among them a Syrian national who masterminded and financed the attacks.
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In January, a suspected al Qaeda militant was killed and three others captured in a shootout with the police in Istanbul after the group attempted to rob a post office.
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Photo is an archive image.
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