Ankara  - The Turkish government has sent a delegation to Damascus to meet exiled Hamas leaders in an attempt to secure the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, CNN-Turk reported on Friday.

CNN-Turk said the delegation had hopes Shalit would be released in the shortest possible time.

Shalit was captured near Gaza in a cross-border raid by Hamas militants in June 2006. Israel has insisted that it will not agree to any long-term truce in the Gaza Strip if Shalit is not released.

Turkish officials have been in contact with Hamas leaders for a number of years and have played an active role in trying to organize a long-term truce in Gaza.

Karlsruhe, Germany - A 63-year-old German has been indicted for breaking export laws by selling 16 tons of rocket-building material to Iran, German federal prosecutors said Friday.

The high-grade graphite may have been used to make rocket nozzles.

To circumvent export checks, it was described as low-grade when it was sent to a Turkish intermediary between 2005 and 2007, the prosecutors in Karlsruhe said. Alert Turkish customs officers stopped another 10 tons being trucked into Iran.

Ankara - The Turkish navy is preparing a naval frigate to join an international force to help combat piracy off the coast of Somalia, a military spokesman said on Friday.

Ankara - The number of Israeli tourists visiting Turkey has fallen drastically in the wake of Turkey's harsh reactions to Israel's military operations in the Gaza Strip, the Dogan news agency reported on Friday.

Around 3,000 Israeli tourists flew into the Mediterranean coastal city of Antalya in January, a fall of almost 60 per cent compared to last year's almost 10,000 arrivals.

Ankara - A police officer was killed Thursday afternoon in a suspected bomb explosion outside a police station in western Turkey, NTV private television reported.

Ankara - Turkish police on Thursday confirmed they were searching for a 29-year-old man