ANKARA (AFP) – Three bodies, believed to be of illegal immigrants on a boat which sank, washed ashore in northwestern Turkey over the weekend, Anatolia reported yesterday. The dead men are believed to be either Somalis or Mauritanians, who were among 12 people aboard a rubber dinghy which sank in bad weather in the Aegean Sea on Thursday. Two passengers managed to swim ashore to the town of Ayvacik in Canakkale province, three were rescued by the coast guard and four remain unaccounted for, it said.

ARBIL (AFP) – The rebel Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) expressed concern yesterday about Turkish pressure on the Iraqi Kurdish authorities to rein in its activities in northern Iraq. A spokesman for the rebel group, which has waged a deadly insurgency in southeastern Turkey for nearly 25 years, accused Ankara of trying to play divide-and-rule among the Kurdish people, who straddle the borders of Iraq, Turkey, Iran and Syria. “Since they failed in their military campaign in the border region over the past year, they have come up with the policy of trying to divide the Kurds and provoke infighting among them,” Kamal Kheyri told AFP by telephone.

Around 1,000 Bulgarian police officers gathered near the Interior Ministry headquarters yesterday for an informal protest designed to press for better pay and working conditions. For the second time in a week, police organized “a chat” in the capital and several hundred officers attended similar meetings in a dozen provincial towns. Police are banned by law from going on strike. (Reuters)

The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) says it has pulled the last of its troops out of Iraq and will not renew their mission. Defense Minister Zoran Konjanovski says he is proud the tiny Balkan country participated “in a huge mission where the values of the democracy were defended.” (AP)

Kosovo’s president has named a former rebel fighter as the first head of the new country’s armed forces. Lt Gen. Sylejman Selimi will be commander of the 2,500-strong Kosovo Security Force. The lightly armed force will be trained by NATO experts. (AP)