In Istanbul, at least 25 people have died and nearly 400 injured after two near simultaneous suicide bombs exploded outside the British consulate and the HSBC Bank headquarters. This comes days after 25 others died in another bombing in Istanbul that targeted two synagogues. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said “I’m afraid it has all the hallmarks of international terrorism practiced by al Qaida.” On Tuesday Turkish officials revealed that two Turks were behind the weekend bombings. Turkey is one of Washington’s closest political and military allies in the Muslim world. Meanwhile in southeastern Turkey, the Turkish military killed 12 members of the Kurdish resistance Wednesday.