At least 300 miners are trapped after an explosion caused a fire triggering a collapse at a coal mine in the western Turkish province of Manisa.

Local member of parliament Muzaffer Yurttas said 20 workers had been killed at the mine in Soma, citing health officials.

"Twenty workers were killed and 30 were wounded in the accident. They died of choking and burns," Yurttas told local TV station NTV.

Al Jazeera's Serpil Karacan reporting from Istanbul said the mine employed more than 500 people and at least 200 people had finished their shift, leaving 300 still trapped at the site.

The accident is reported to have occurred 2km inside the mine, with local administrator Mehmet Bahattin Atci blaming the explosion on a power distribution unit.

ISTANBUL, Turkey -  Turkish police have launched an investigation into online adverts posted by people allegedly so desperate for money they are offering to sell their kidneys, local media reported Monday.

  

A security guard has been killed after a suicide bomber blew himself up outside the US embassy in the Turkish capital, Ankara, the provincial governor says. "There were two dead in the suicide bombing, a Turkish security guard and the bomber himself," Alaattin Yuksel told reporters, adding that a woman was also wounded in Friday's blast in the Cankaya neighbourhood. 

The US ambassador to Turkey confirmed that one of the embassy's Turkish staff was killed.

Source: Press TV

At least 31 people have been killed in flash floods in Istanbul, Turkey's largest city, which has left cars and trucks stranded across highways after the heaviest rain in the region in 80 years.
The dead included seven women who drowned in a minibus taking them to work on Wednesday, the Anatolian news agency said.

• "We are saddened by the loss of lives. There are still some people missing and we are searching for them," Mustafa Demir, Turkey's procurement minister, said on Wednesday. "There is huge damage to infrastructure."
• Sources told Al Jazeera that 28 people were killed in two days, including 20 on Wednesday.
• Muammer Guler, Istanbul's governor, said more than 20 people were also injured in floods on Wednesday, and added heavy rains were expected to continue throughout the week.
• Anita McNaught, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Istanbul, said the poorer members of the city's community were the most affected by the flooding.
• Waters are reported to have risen by more than a metre-high in Istanbul's Ikitelli district, with motorists climbing on top of their vehicles waiting to be rescued.
• Hikmet Cakmak, Istanbul's deputy governor, described the scene at Ikitelli as a "disaster" and said four helicopters and eight boats were sent to help
• the stranded motorists.
• Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's prime minister, is due to travel to Istanbul on Wednesday to witness the damage.

Source: Al Jazeera

Aiming to deflect Turkey's criticism of its war on Gaza, Israel seeks to portray Hamas and Iran as the real causes for regional concern.
After Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan hit out at Israeli President Shimon Peres over Israel's offensive against Gaza in a heated Davos debate, Tel Aviv brushed off the attack by calling on Ankara to slow down diplomatic relations with Hamas and Iran.
"It must be remembered that after Hamas took power, Turkey was the first country to invite them over, so we find ourselves both in an important relationship but also in a dispute about how to conduct ourselves regionally," Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told Israel Radio on Sunday.
"Despite the street demonstrations, despite the difficult images from Gaza. Hamas is everyone's problem. And most countries in the region, in the Middle East, have understood this more than the Turks," added Livni.
The new rift between Israel and turkey comes as earlier in July the Israeli air force used the airspace in northern Turkey to hold military drills.
The New York Times revealed that the major military exercise was a rehearsal for a potential bombing attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.
Israeli Ambassador to Ankara Gabby Levy acknowledged the tension in bilateral relations, adding that he was working with local authorities on restoring ties.
"There is a rift in our relations. This cannot be hidden. But these relations are very important for both countries," Levy told Israel Radio.
Source: Press TV