ANKARA (AP) - More than three-quarters of the Turkish Parliament’s Israel caucus have resigned to protest the country’s attacks on Lebanon, the head of the committee said yesterday. Of the caucus’s 284 member lawmakers, 217 have resigned over the past two weeks, caucus leader Vahit Kirisci told The Associated Press, leaving it with 67 members. At least three have joined the Lebanon caucus instead, another official said on condition of anonymity due to rules that bar civil servants from speaking to journalists without prior authorization. The attacks, especially the deaths of civilians, have caused outrage in Turkey, a predominantly Muslim country that has close links to Israel, but also deep historical and religious ties with Lebanon.

ANKARA (AP) - Suspected Kurdish rebels killed a military officer in his home in Turkey’s southeast, local officials said yesterday. Two suspected rebels broke into the home of a non-commissioned officer in Sirnak province, near the border with Iraq, and attacked him and his son late Sunday, the local governor’s office said. The officer died in a hospital, and his son remained seriously injured. In a separate incident, a militant blew himself up while attempting to place a mine on a nearby road, local officials said.

Supporters of the largest ethnic Albanian party in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) blocked roads in western and northern parts of the country yesterday to protest being excluded from the new conservative-led coalition government. The Democratic Union for Integration, or DUI, blocked roads where ethnic Albanians comprise the majority of the population. Prime Minister-designate Nikola Gruevski, whose conservatives won the July 5 general elections, chose to form a coalition partnership with the smaller ethnic Albanian DPA party. (AP)

A Croatian journalist has been arrested at the request of the UN war crimes court for allegedly disclosing the names of dozens of protected witnesses, reports said yesterday. Domagoj Margetic was arrested “on a request from the UN war crimes court,” investigating magistrate Ratko Scekic told AFP. He said the Hague tribunal was “conducting proceedings against him for contempt of court.” (AFP)

Dutch border police said yesterday they have arrested a man wanted by Turkish authorities for suspected involvement in a deadly terrorist attack. A police spokesman said the 37-year-old man was identified during a routine traffic stop near the southern border city of Maastricht on August 1, and his arrest was only now being made public. The man is suspected of carrying out an attack in which 15 people were killed, including a police officer. It was not said when or where the attack took place. (AP)