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Turkish foreign ministry, Norway embassy targeted by 'suspect packages'

Ankara (AFP) - The Turkish foreign ministry and Norwegian embassy in Ankara on Thursday received suspicious packages, officials said, the latest in a string of such incidents in the country.

Turkey's emergencies management agency AFAD said in a statement that both reported receiving the suspect packages in the morning.

It did not say what was in the packages but the Dogan news agency said they contained the same yellow powder that had been sent to half a dozen consulates in Istanbul last week.

Twenty-five staff from the consulates were hospitalised after coming into contact with the powder but all were eventually released without showing ill health.

The health ministry had said there was no evidence of dangerous substances in the powder, which turned out to be nothing more than yellow chalk.

But the scare in Istanbul came amid mounting concerns about the growing national security threat to Turkey and Western states posed by the jihadists, who are trying to seize the town of Kobane close to Turkey's border with Syria.

The consulates of Belgium, Canada, Germany, France, Hungary and the United States -- all countries involved in the international coalition against Islamic State (IS) jihadists -- had reported receiving the yellow powder.