ISTANBUL (AP) – Police captured 12 suspected Kurdish rebels who they said were planning bombings of industrial facilities in the Istanbul area, the Anatolia news agency reported yesterday. The 12 were captured in synchronized operations in Istanbul, where four were arrested, and in the nearby city of Kocaeli. The arrests come just before the start tomorrow of the Kurdish festival of Nowruz, which has traditionally been used as an opportunity to highlight separatist demands by Kurdish rebels. Police said they confiscated nearly 12 kilograms (more than 25 pounds) of plastic explosives in the raids, along with electronic detonators and documents linking the men to the PKK.

ANKARA (AFP) –Turkey yesterday dismissed speculation that it had turned over to Israel a retired Iranian general who went missing in Istanbul last month. “Turkey is in close cooperation with Iran on the fate of Ali Reza Asghari. Speculative reports or comments do not contribute to progress on the issue,” a diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP. He was responding to allegations by Asghari’s wife, Sima Ahmadi, who said that Turkish intelligence forces had handed her husband over to Israel as she demonstrated outside the Turkish Embassy in Tehran with several family members yesterday.

The head of Romania’s foreign intelligence service resigned yesterday after a misunderstanding surrounding testimony he gave to a parliamentary commission, officials said. The confusion arose a week ago after Claudiu Saftoiu gave evidence in the impeachment of President Traian Basescu. Saftoiu had said his agents bugged a number of people on the basis of a warrant issued by the public prosecutor, even though it was against the law. However, he later lamented the “regrettable confusion” surrounding his comments, which “resulted in a feeling of mistrust” toward his intelligence service. Parliament last month voted to launch an inquiry against Basescu for what it says were serious violations of the constitution. (AP)

Croatian police said yesterday they had detained a group of would-be Albanian and Turkish migrants as well as two Croatians who were allegedly trying to smuggle them into the EU. The nine Albanian and six Turkish nationals were discovered on Sunday after police found one of them hidden in the trunk of a Croatian-registered car near the country’s eastern border with Serbia. Police located the other 14 illegal immigrants during a subsequent search of the surrounding area. So far this year, Croatian authorities have detained dozens of illegal immigrants, most of them of Albanian origin. (AFP)