Berlin - Germany thanked Turkey on Monday for its help, a day after three German mountaineers were freed at the end of nearly two weeks in the hands of Kurdish rebels.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Jens Ploetner said Turkish officials had played a major role in resolving the crisis, with the interaction between the two nations' officials "characterized by high trust."

The three men were expected in Germany late Monday afternoon after spending the night in a Turkish government guest-house at Agri. Militants in the Kurdish rebel group PKK kidnapped them July 8. They were freed on Sunday.

Ankara -

Ankara - Eleven Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) rebels were killed by Turkish forces in an operation in the south-eastern province of Hakkari on Tuesday night, the Turkish General Staff reported on We

Ankara - Ten Kurdish separatists were reportedly killed in clashes with Turkish security forces in south-east Turkey early on Friday morning, the Dogan news agency reported.

Ankara - Police in Turkey on Thursday continued to search for the man who drove three suspected al-Qaeda gunmen to the US consulate in Istanbul where they opened fire on police.