Turkey leads condemnation of Israeli raid on aid ship

ANKARA, Turkey - Turkey withdrew its ambassador to Israel and called for an emergency session of the UN Security Council as condemnations erupted across Europe and the Arab world yesterday over Israel's deadly commando raid on ships taking humanitarian aid to the blockaded Gaza Strip.

As governments sought explanations, Israel said its soldiers were trying to defend themselves against armed activists. The White House said it was trying to learn more about "this tragedy."

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said "it should be known that we are not going to remain silent in the face of this inhumane state terrorism." Most of the nine dead were apparently from Turkey, once a close ally of Israel.

"This assault proved once again, clearly, that the current government of Israel does not want peace in the region," he told reporters in Chile. "Faced with state terrorism we cannot be calm and silent."

In Istanbul, a crowd tried to storm the Israeli Consulate.

North of Jerusalem, Palestinians hurled bottles and stones at Israeli soldiers. In Jordan, hundreds urged their government to follow Turkey's lead and cut ties with Israel.

In Baghdad, an estimated 3,000 Shia followers of the cleric Muqtada al-Sadr shouted "Death, death to Israel!" and "Death, death to America!"

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the violence. British Foreign Secretary William Hague called for an end to the Gaza blockade.

Greece, Egypt, Sweden, Spain and Denmark summoned Israel's ambassadors demanding explanations.