Turkey suicide bomber caught on camera

London-based Arab newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi said Sunday it received a claim of responsibility from al-Qaeda for the explosions which ripped through two synagogues in the heart of historic Istanbul during Sabbath prayers on Saturday, killing 23 people and injuring 300 more.

Turkish Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu said the attacks were the work of two suicide bombers who detonated explosive-laden trucks outside the Neve Shalom and Beth Israel synagogues, and vowed to catch all the culprits.

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"We have footage from the security cameras of Neve Shalom. The truck exploded as it was driving past," Aksu told the Vatan newspaper, adding that one of the bombers was captured on film.

"He is in the footage, although it is not clear. We are trying to establish their identities... It is also not clear whether they were Turkish citizens or foreigners," he added.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was hosting a meeting of his cabinet on Monday, said Turkey was trying to confirm the al-Qaeda claim, while officials said several people had been detained in connection with the attacks.

Turkish officials have already said they believe a major foreign organisation was responsible and have largely discounted an initial claim by a local underground fundamentalist group.

The Arabic-language statement from a branch of al-Qaeda also warned of attacks by "cars of death" in the United States and its key allies including Britain, Australia and Japan.

"Abu Hafz al-Masri Brigades struck a mortal blow after having kept Jewish intelligence agents under surveillance and determined that five of them were in two synagogues in the centre of Istanbul," it said.

In Brussels, the European Union condemned the bombings as "heinous terrorist attacks" and stressed that "terrorism and anti-semitism must be fought by the whole international community".