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

Ankara - Police in Turkey on Thursday arrested and charged a man they believe was the alleged mastermind behind the 2007 torture- murders of three Christian missionaries in the city of Malatya, the Anadolu news agency reported.

Varol Bulent Aral was taken into custody early Thursday morning and was later charged at a court in Malatya with "leading a terrorist organization" and "organizing the murder of more than one person."

Some of the seven people already on trial for the murders have given evidence that Aral was behind the murders. Anadolu reported that Aral on Thursday denied the charges.