Turkey's government will ask parliament to extend for a fifth time the state of emergency that was declared following last year's failed military coup.

MASKED gunmen killed a Turkish hostage with three gunshots to the head, according to a video posted on the Internet, and the Turkish truckers' union said yesterday it would stop supplying US forces in Iraq, bowing to militant demands in hopes of saving two other captive Turks.

SECURITY forces across Europe arrested over 40 people in crackdowns yesterday against a Marxist Turkish group the EU and the US consider a terrorist organisation.

Turkey's government has frozen financial assets belonging to a Saudi businessman suspected of providing financial support to Osama bin Laden's terrorist network, according to reports.