Turkish forces pressed ahead with ground operations against Kurdish rebels in Iraq today after the military reported that five troops and several dozen rebels had been killed in the cross-border fighting.

Turkish troops backed by air power crossed into northern Iraq in their first major ground offensive against Kurdish rebel bases in nearly a decade.

Turkey fired about 15 artillery shells toward Kurdish villages in the border area of northern Iraq today but caused no casualties, an Iraqi army officer said.

Turkey fired about 15 artillery shells toward Kurdish villages in the border area of northern Iraq today but caused no casualties, an Iraqi army officer said.

Hijackers claiming to have bombs and to be members of al-Qaida today hijacked a Turkish passenger plane heading from northern Cyprus to Istanbul.

Turkey’s Islamic-oriented ruling party has decided to nominate Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul again for president despite strong opposition to his candidacy, a party official said.

Holidaymakers at a Turkish hotel have been injured in a gas explosion.

Hundreds of Turks spent the first day of the Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha holiday in emergency wards today after stabbing themselves or suffering other injuries while sacrificing startled and agitated sheep and other animals.

Hundreds of Turks spent the first day of the Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha holiday in emergency wards today after stabbing themselves or suffering other injuries while sacrificing startled and agitated animals.

Two bombs exploded within 10 minutes of each other in southern Turkey today, leaving several people injured, police said.

A police helicopter crashed in the Turkish Mediterranean resort city of Antalya today, a spokeswoman for the local governor said. CNN-Turk television reported two dead in the crash.

TWO Turks who wanted to protest Pope Benedict XVI’s planned trip to Turkey next month hijacked a Turkish Airlines jet carrying 113 people from Albania to Istanbul yesterday.

Two commuter trains collided in Istanbul today injuring at least six people, private CNN-Turk television said.

Close to 7,000 people in the south-eastern Turkish town of Malatya needed hospital treatment in an outbreak of diarrhoea caused by drinking contaminated water, CNN-Turk television reported.

Armoured police cars were guarding government offices and authorities were distributing bread in a south-eastern Turkish town today, after a violent Kurdish riot left at least three people dead and 16 injured.

TURKISH police shot and killed a suspected leftist suicide bomber who tried to detonate his bomb inside the Justice Ministry yesterday and then fled.

Turkish police shot and killed a suspected leftist suicide bomber who tried to detonate his bomb inside the Justice Ministry today and then fled.

Turkish police shot a suspected bomber this morning as he ran towards the Justice Ministry in Ankara, CNN-Turk television reported.

A moderate earthquake today shook the area near Turkey’s border with Iran, seismologists said.

A passenger train in north-west Turkey ignored a stop signal and rammed an oncoming train, killing six people and injuring 85 others yesterday in the nation’s third deadly rail accident in as many weeks.

Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s terrorist group says it has kidnapped two Turkish truck drivers and will kill them in 48 hours if their company does not stop working in Iraq, according to a new videotape broadcast today on Al-Jazeera TV.

A Turkish driver abducted in Iraq earlier this month has been freed after he promised his captors that he would not return to the country, a media report said today.

Three Turkish hostages have been released by militants in Iraq, the Turkish foreign minister has said in Istanbul.

Turkish officials today quickly denied a television report that a suspected terrorist and three others were injured in a bomb explosion, saying instead that a Turkish tourist had been killed in a gas explosion in southern Turkey.

A suspected terrorist and three others were injured today when a bomb went off prematurely in the hands of the bomber at a small hotel in southern Turkey, private CNN-Turk television reported.

A bomb blast on a bus killed at least two people and injured seven others in Istanbul today.

Exit polls in Cyprus’s referendums indicate that Greek Cypriots have overwhelmingly rejected a UN plan to reunite the island while Turkish Cypriots have voted heavily in favour of it.

An explosion at a building housing a Masonic lodge killed at least two people and wounded seven others tonight in Istanbul – a city struck by four suicide bombings last year.

Police stormed Istanbul’s main court house today and captured about two dozen Kurds, who had raided the building and taken hostages to press demands for the release of imprisoned Kurdish rebel chief Abdullah Ocalan.

About two dozen Kurds raided Istanbul’s main court house today, calling for the release of imprisoned Kurdish rebel chief Abdullah Ocalan.

Explosions rocked central Istanbul today, not far from the city’s largest synagogue, killing 11 people and injuring several others, CNN-Turk television said.

A BUS in a wedding convoy veered off the road and slammed into a retaining wall in northern Turkey yesterday, killing 19 people and injuring several others.

A bus in a wedding convoy veered off the road and slammed into a retaining wall in northern Turkey today, killing 19 people and injuring several others.

Two bombs were thrown into the garden at the US Consulate in Adana in southern Turkey today, causing minor damage but no injuries.

A Ukrainian passenger plane carrying 74 people, most of them Spanish military personnel serving in Afghanistan, crashed early today in north west Turkey, Turkish news reports said.

Turkey has agreed to allow US overflights for a war with Iraq, a Turkish military official said tonight.

Turkey’s governing party leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who swept elections paving the way for him to become prime minister, said a decision on allowing in US combat troops for an Iraq war could come after the UN Security Council has met and a new Turkish government is formed.

Security guards on Israel’s national airline El Al overpowered a suspected hijacker who tried to storm into the cockpit of a Tel Aviv to Istanbul flight, apparently armed with a pocket knife, passengers said.

Winds reaching 35mph knocked down a minaret, killing two worshippers as they left a mosque in Turkey, police said today.