Turkish court killer says he planned to assassinate president

An Islamist radical on trial for a deadly raid last year on Turkey’s top administrative court said Thursday he also planned to assassinate the president and attack leading business groups, the Anatolia news agency reported. “The aim of the [court] attack was to punish contemptible acts against the faith of Allah, his prophet and Muslims,” Alparslan Aslan told the court. “If I had not been captured, I would have attacked the Dogan media group, the Koc group… and some banks. I would have killed President Ahmet Necdet Sezer,” he said. Arslan, a 30-year-old lawyer, has confessed to the attack on the council of state on May 17, 2006, in which a senior judge was killed and four others wounded. He said he acted out of anger over court rulings upholding a ban on the Islamic headscarf in public offices and universities. Arslan also confessed to organising three grenade attacks in Istanbul against the secularist newspaper Gumhuriyet several days before the court shooting.