Turkish Lawyer Linked to al-Qaida Killed in Syria

A Turkish lawyer who defended suspected al-Qaida militants has been killed in fighting in the Syrian city of Aleppo, Turkey's Anatolia news agency said Wednesday.

Osman Karahan, who represented several suspects accused of carrying out four truck bomb blasts in Istanbul in November 2003, was buried Tuesday after being killed in the heavy combat gripping the key northern city, his brother Ekrem Karahan told Anatolia.

"Osman's friends said, 'He will be buried here because he's a martyr,'" Ekrem Karahan said.

The Istanbul attacks, which targeted two synagogues, the British consulate and the local headquarters of HSBC bank, killed 63 people and wounded hundreds.

In 2007 seven men were sentenced to life for the blasts.

Karahan himself was charged with funding members of al-Qaida, but a Turkish court cleared him in 2006.