Berlin  - More than 11,000 people applied for asylum in Germany in the first half of this year, almost a third of them Iraqis, the Interior Ministry reported in Berlin Monday.

Iraqi asylum-seekers totalled 3,511 of the total of 11,011. Turks made up the next largest group, with 765 applicants.

Serbia followed with 664 applications, 46 per cent of whom were designated as Roma and 29 per cent as Albanian.

Of the 396 applications from Russian citizens, 47 per cent were Chechen. (dpa)