Doğan News Agency

A powerful, non-supercell tornado over water has caused damage after it hit the eastern shores of Istanbul on June 19.

The tornado, a rare occurrence for northwestern Turkey, was first seen over the Marmara Sea before passing through the Pendik and Tuzla neighborhoods in eastern Istanbul and reached the province of Kocaeli.

Some 60 foreign workers, including 15 Turkish citizens, have been kidnapped by militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Iraq on June 17, an eyewitness told Doğan News Agency.

Iraq's prime minister has asked parliament to declare a state of emergency after Islamist militants effectively took control of Mosul, the country's second-largest city, and much of its province of Nineveh June 9, in another blow to the authorities, who appear incapable of stopping rebel advances.

Militants seized Iraq's second-largest city June 9, officials said, in another blow to the authorities, who appear incapable of stopping rebel advances.

Overnight, hundreds of gunmen launched an assault on Mosul, 350 kilometres north of Baghdad, engaging in combat with troops and police, they said.

Clashes erupted between the crowd and police June 8 during the funeral procession of one of the two Kurdish demonstrators killed by security forces during a raid on a roadblock in Diyarbakır’s Lice district, showing the dramatic escalation of tension in Turkey’s southeastern provinces.

A 27-year-old man was found dead in Istanbul’s Gezi Park on June 2, sparking speculation on Turkish social media two days after the eventful anniversary of the Gezi Park protests.

Passersby called the police when they noticed the man, identified as Tuğrul Tunalı, lying on the grass.

A train station built as part of the construction works for the high-speed railway partially collapsed near Arifiye in the western province of Sakarya on May 29.

Six workers were injured, including three in a serious condition, state-run Anadolu Agency reported. The initial reports claiming that some workers were trapped under the rubble were soon refuted.

While the perpetrators and motives for the attack in which Turkish Airlines’ (THY) security chief was killed in Mogadishu remains unclear, detailed information about the life of Saadettin Doğan has been revealed.