Ankara  - A court in south-east Turkey on Friday banned Turkish internet users from accessing Blogger, the world's largest free blog hosting service.

Internet users in Turkey discovered Friday afternoon that the site, which hosts millions of blogs, or web logs, had been blocked. When users tried to view a blogger's page they were redirected to a message which said: "Access to this website has been suspended in accordance with decision no. 2008/2761 of the TR Diyarbakir First Criminal Court of Peace."

No reason for the ban was given.

Ankara - Prosecutors on Wednesday launched an investigation into a speech made by the leader of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) in which he attacked the government's policy regarding the Kurdish issue, the Anadolu news agency reported.

"The policy of denial, assimilation and eradication has affected people. Only the Kurds resisted. They still resist," DTP leader Ahmet Turk told supporters in the south-eastern city of Diyarbakir.

The speech came after days of protests in south-eastern cities where Kurds angry at reports that Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan had been mistreated in prison have held running battles with police.

Ankara - The trial of 86 people accused of plotting to create havoc in order to prepare the ground for a military coup got under way in Istanbul on Monday.

The long-awaited trial of the so-called Ergenekon gang began some 17 months after police discovered hand grenades in an Istanbul house belonging to a former non-commissioned officer.

An investigation found that the grenades were from the same batch that was used in an attack on the Istanbul offices of Cumhuriyet newspaper in 2006.

Ankara - The Turkish military on Friday said 35 Kurdish separatists had been killed in clashes this week on Mount Cudi in the southeastern province of Sirnak.

A General Staff spokesman told reporters that the number of Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) deaths was learnt through intercepted PKK communications.

Recent weeks have seen an increase in the number and intensity of PKK attacks on Turkish military targets. Five Turkish soldiers and five PKK rebels were killed late Wednesday in clashes in the province of Hakkari.

On October 3, 17 soldiers were killed in a PKK attack on a military border post and in response Turkey has staged almost daily aerial bombardments of suspected PKK positions inside northern Iraq.

Ankara - Ten Turkish soldiers and 10 Kurdish separatists were killed Wednesday night during separate clashes in south-east Turkey, the General Staff announced on Thursday.

Four soldiers were killed in the province of Kavakli district of Hakkari province when their vehicle came under fire from separatists from the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK), the General Staff said in a short statement posted on its official website.

Ankara - An attempt to hijack a Turkish Airlines flight between Antalya and St Petersburg on Wednesday failed after passengers overpowered the unidentified man, NTV private television reported.

Transport Ministry sources told NTV that the man had claimed to be carrying a bomb and wanted the flight diverted.

The unidentified man was overcome by passengers and the flight continued to St Petersburg, NTV reported.