A Turkish court has reportedly set free 20 people who had been expelled by Syria in connection with last month's wave of devastating suicide bomb blasts in Istanbul.
Syria expelled 22 people on Sunday at the request of Turkish security forces investigating the four blasts. They were detained for questioning by authorities in the Turkish province of Hatay, near the Syrian border.
The Turkish Anatolian news agency reported that eye-witnesses saw relatives coming to collect the detainees, who Turkish television said had included at least nine women and more than half a dozen people under 18.
Anatolian did not say which two suspects sent from Syria remained in police custody.
Many of the detainees were suspected of having links with Azad Ekinci, who investigators believe was a key planner of the November blasts, in which 61 people died and around 700 were wounded. Ekinci is believed to have fled Turkey.
NTV television said today the number of people under arrest for suspected involvement in the blasts had risen to 25. Police have questioned about 130 people since the explosions.
Speaking to NTV, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul praised Syria and Iran for cooperating closely with Turkey in rounding up the bomb suspects, but he said European countries could do much more to fight "terrorism".
Turkey has long criticised the European Union, which it aspires to join, for failing to take a tougher stance against armed Kurdish separatists blamed by Ankara for the deaths of more than 30,000 people in a decades-old insurgency.
Since the November blasts, Ankara has also criticised Britain for urging its citizens to stay away from Turkey and has chided Italy for backing a decision to transfer a key soccer game from Turkish soil to Germany for security reasons.
Turkey says the British and Italian moves effectively reward terrorism.
