Rescue workers have recovered the bodies of five more victims of Turkey’s latest earthquake, increasing the death toll to at least 17, including a Japanese aid worker who came after last month’s devastating quake.

TURKEY struggled to provide shelter yesterday to tens of thousands left homeless by an earthquake that killed nearly 500, and rescue teams began taking painful decisions to call off searches for those buried alive.

A powerful quake has killed 30 people and injured 150 others in the eastern town of Ercis, according to state television.

Kurdish rebels killed five Turkish soldiers in a rocket attack in south-eastern Turkey early today, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported.