May 6, 2009 (Xinhua News Agency) -- Xinhua Middle East news summary at 2100 GMT, May 6
BAGHDAD -- A truck bomb explosion Wednesday at a busy wholesale vegetable market in southern Baghdad killed 11 people and wounded 37 others, an Interior Ministry source said.
A pick-up loaded with explosives struck the al-Rasheed wholesale vegetable market in Doura district at around 7:00 a.m. ( 0400 GMT), the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. ( Iraq-Bombing)
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GAZA -- Islamic Hamas movement and Gaza militant groups had secretly agreed to halt homemade rockets, firing from the Gaza Strip at Israel, a well-informed source told Xinhua late Tuesday.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, revealed that a meeting was secretly held in Gaza city, gathering leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements as well as leaders of other minor militant groups. (Palestinians-Israel-Attacks)
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TEHRAN -- Iranian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday summoned Turkmen ambassador to Iran Ahmed Qurbanov over the mistreatment of Iranians at Turkmen customs, the official IRNA news agency reported.
Following the numerous complaints by Iranian nationals who were mistreated by Turkmen border guards at the country's customs, Iran 's Foreign Ministry summoned Qurbanov to lodge an official protest, said IRNA. (Iran-Turkmenistan-Ambassador)
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ANKARA -- Ten rebels of the banned Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) were killed in a Turkish air strike last week targeting its hideouts in northern Iraq, the Anatolia news agency reported on Wednesday.
On April 30, the air strike also destroyed several hideouts in the Zap (OTCBB:ZAAP) and Avashin-Basyan regions and weapons depots used by PKK militants, according to the report. (Turkey-Iraq-PKK)
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GAZA -- Israeli F-16 warplanes on Wednesday afternoon struck the borderline zone between southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah and Egypt with air-to-ground rockets, witnesses and security sources said.
Security sources of the Islamic Hamas movement, which rules Gaza, said Israeli warplanes hovered over the area and carried out two separate airstrikes, hitting the area where hundreds of underground tunnels are used for smuggling goods from Egypt into Gaza. (Palestinians-Israel-Tunnels)
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BEIRUT -- Lebanese and Israeli representatives met Wednesday in the presence of UN under secretary-general for peacekeeping operations Alain Le Roy in southern Lebanese border town of Naqoura, official National News Agency (NNA) reported.
The two countries, which are in a state of animosity, allowed their representatives to meet at the headquarters of the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL), and discussed the Israeli potential withdrawal from the northern part of Lebanese Ghajar village, and the violations of UN resolution 1701. ( Lebanon-Israel-UN)
