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ANKARA — New European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said in Turkey on Monday she hoped increased intelligence-sharing would help stop the flow of foreign fighters joining the ranks of Islamic State militants.

Mogherini was speaking after talks in Ankara on her first trip to Turkey since taking office.

Turkey is under pressure to stem the flow of IS recruits across its borders, which have become a major gateway between Europe and territory controlled by the extremists.

EU capitals are concerned about the possibility of attacks being mounted by the growing number of European nationals returning home after fighting alongside jihadists.

Mogherini said: "We discussed the situation of foreign fighters. It is one of our common interests we have to face — having good coordination and good strategy to stop the flow on both [sides].

"The work has been going on in the last weeks, with positive developments in information sharing and coordination. I hope that this can create positive results in the coming days and weeks."

Mogherini, travelling with the EU's enlargement and humanitarian aid commissioners, met President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.

Mogherini, a former Italian foreign minister who took up the post of EU diplomatic chief on November 1, is also to visit refugee camps on Turkey's southern border Tuesday.

On Monday, Mogherini called for a solution to the Syrian crisis "at the root" and voiced support for the mission of the UN's envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura who is due to hold talks in Turkey with the leaders of rebels fighting President Bashar Assad.

She said Turkey was key to a solution to the Syrian conflict.

"Turkey knows very well it can play a very relevant role in the region. If we manage to match the role with the EU... I think we could probably advance the solutions, especially the political solution to the crisis in Syria."

'Right direction'

The high-profile visit comes as the new EU team is seeking to kick start Turkey's stalled membership negotiations.

"We know that our membership in the EU will present opportunities for both sides," Foreign Minister Cavusoglu told a news conference with Mogherini. "We look to our relations with the EU as win-win."

Turkey, a regional Sunni Muslim power, has barely made progress in membership negotiations with the EU since they formally opened in 2005.

Talks have stalled due to stumbling blocks including a territorial dispute with member Cyprus and opposition from EU heavyweights France and Germany.

Ankara has also drawn the ire of Brussels over its human rights record, while some EU states have reservations about granting membership to such a large Muslim country.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn said one or more chapters could open in Turkish-EU accession talks in the future but called for reforms, especially in the area of rule of law and fundamental rights.

"We welcome recent moves and signals from member states and therefore... I am hopeful that it might be possible to open one or the other chapter in the next presidency," he said.

"Things are moving in the right direction."

The EU delegation visited just a week after Russian President Vladimir Putin was in Turkey to announce the cancellation of the multibillion-dollar South Stream pipeline project.

Putin blamed the EU for throwing obstacles in the path of the project and said Russia would work with Ankara on a new gas hub instead.

Turkey has so far resisted pressure from Brussels to join sanctions imposed on Russia for its role in the Ukraine crisis.

BAGHDAD — Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi on Monday said corruption was no lesser threat than terrorism and pledged to combat it even if that puts his life at risk.

Abadi took over at the helm of Iraq in September following an acrimonious process that saw his predecessor Nouri Al Maliki reluctantly step down after two terms.

He has since pledged to tackle a wide range of problems, including the system of corruption and patronage that observers say flourished during Maliki's two terms.

"We have started blowing some big fish out of the water and will go after them until the end, even if it costs me my life and regardless of the campaigns I will be subjected to, because corruption is no less significant than terrorism," Abadi told reporters in the holy Shiite city of Karbala.

On November 30, Abadi announced a preliminary investigation had uncovered the existence of 50,000 "fictitious names" on the military's payroll.

While he did not name Maliki, the public announcement and pledge to crack down on graft was seen as evidence Abadi was determined to hack away at his predecessor's legacy.

But Maliki said on Monday that the revelations on so-called "ghost soldiers" in the military were unfounded.

"This information is totally untrue. The army is free of ghost soldiers except for a few rare cases which are being followed up," he told AFP in answer to a question.

Likewise Maliki, who is now one of Iraq's vice presidents, did not refer to Abadi by name but directly challenged his words.

"We wish the source of information had been accurate and had investigated before making announcements, thus not creating confusion that is exploited by those who want to undermine the state and its institutions," he said.

Maliki said the many soldiers who fled the army when the Islamic State group launched their offensive in June and took over the second city of Mosul had been removed from the payroll.

Maliki's critics say his sectarian policies and stranglehold on the security apparatus were partly to blame for the ease with which the jihadists took over swathes of Iraq.

Since he took office, Abadi has sacked or retired several senior security officials of the Maliki era.

RIYADH — King Abdullah named a new health minister Monday to lead the fight against the MERS virus that has cost more than 350 lives in Saudi Arabia, after his predecessor was sacked.

Mohammed Bin Ali Bin Hayazaa Al Hayazaa replaces Abdullah Al Rabiah who was dismissed in April as concerns grew over the kingdom's handling of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV).

Before Hayazaa's appointment as part of a Cabinet reshuffle, Labour Minister Adel Fakieh had been serving as acting health minister.

During the tenure of Fakieh, who promised "transparency" over MERS, the World Health Organisation said a surge in MERS cases had receded but urged continued vigilance.

In October the ministry said MERS remained a significant threat to Saudi Arabia, after a series of cases in the western city of Taif.

Research by Saudi scientists indicates that camels play a role in the transmission of the virus to humans.

MERS has surfaced in about 20 countries but hit the Gulf kingdom hardest, with 818 cases and 352 deaths since 2012.

The health minister and other new Cabinet members were appointed through royal decrees published by the official Saudi Press Agency.

In another key replacement, Abdul Aziz Bin Abdullah Al Khudairi takes over the culture and information portfolio after Abdulaziz Khoja was sacked in November.

A royal decree fired Khoja after militants killed eight members of the minority Shiite community in an unprecedented attack in eastern province.

The decree said Khoja left the job "at his request". His dismissal followed Shiite calls for action against hate speech in the media.

Major posts including defence, foreign affairs and oil were unchanged in Monday's shuffle which also made changes to the following ministries:

— At higher education, Khalid Bin Abdullah Al Sabti replaces Khalid Bin Mohammed Al Angari.

— At Islamic affairs and endowments, Suleiman Bin Abdullah Aba Al  Khail replaces Sheikh Salih Bin Abdul Aziz Al Sheikh.

— At communications and information technology, Fahad Bin Mutad Bin Shafaq Al Hamad replaces Mohammed Jameel Bin Ahmed Mala.

— At social affairs, Salman Bin Saad Al Hameed replaces Yousif Bin Ahmed Al Othaimain.

— At agriculture, Waleed Bin Abdul Kareem Al Khuraiji replaces Fahad Bin Abdul Rahman Balghunaim.

— At transport, Abdullah Bin Abdulrahman Al Muqbel replaces Jabara Bin Eid Al Siresri.

JOHANNESBURG — Questions are mounting over a botched US rescue mission in Yemen that left one US hostage and another South African hostage dead, the day before he was expected to be released by his Al Qaeda captors.

The United States admitted it was "absolutely unaware" that a South African charity had negotiated 56-year-old teacher Pierre Korkie's release — or even that he was being held at the same compound as American photojournalist Luke Somers.

The stepmother of 33-year-old Somers has criticised the mission that should have saved his life, saying "if there had not been a rescue attempt he would still be alive".

Korkie and Somers were shot by Al Qaeda militants Saturday when the US commandos were discovered about 100 metres from the compound where they were being held.

Korkie and his wife Yolande were abducted in May 2013 in Yemen's second city of Taiz by members of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, while Somers was seized in the capital Sanaa four months later.

Yolande was released in January after protracted negotiations led by South African charity Gift of the Givers.

But Korkie remained captive for another 11 months and his kidnappers demanded a ransom of $3 million (2.2 million euros).

His ordeal was due to end Saturday, said Gift of the Givers, claiming they had finally secured Korkie's release at a reduced "settlement fee" of $200,000 after months of negotiating with Al Qaeda through tribal leaders in the region.

The US insists it was not informed of the development.

"The United States was not aware of the progress of the negotiations between the Gift of the Givers and the Yemeni hostage takers, nor of a promise for Pierre Korkie's release," the US embassy in Pretoria said in a statement Monday.

"Moreover, at no time was it apparent that Pierre Korkie was being held in the same space as the American photojournalist Luke Somers. We moved with the information available in an attempt to save lives."

The US intervention came after Somers' captors released a video last week threatening to execute him.

"We had indications, very good indications, that they were going to murder Mr Somers perhaps as early as the next day," a senior US defence official said Saturday.

"It was either act now and take the risk, or let that deadline pass. And no one was willing to do that."

But Somers' family said they would have preferred a negotiated approach.

Speaking to The Times of London, the British-born photographer's stepmother Penny Bearman said: "We are sure that Luke would have given support to the ongoing discussions [to secure his release] in Yemen rather than the conflict approach. There had been threats before that had not been carried out."

Speaking from Afghanistan Sunday, Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel told reporters the US has no plans to review how it conducts rescue operations, despite Saturday's mission being the latest in a series of failed attempts.

"Our process is about as thorough as there can be," he said. "Is it imperfect? Yes. Is there risk? Yes.

"But we start with the fact that we have an American that's being held hostage and that American's life is in danger. That's where we start."

At a press conference Saturday, Gift of the Givers founder Imtiaz Sooliman said that, after seeing the Somers video, he had a premonition Korkie could be killed should the US attempt a rescue mission.

"I'm not blaming them," he added. "The Americans have their own hostages and their own interests... There's no bad feeling towards anyone."

A spokesman for South Africa's department of international relations and cooperation refused to be drawn on whether or not Gift of the Givers informed them of Korkie's imminent release either.

"We're trying to bring closure to the matter," Nelson Kgwete told AFP. "The family requested that finger-pointing not be done."

But South Africa's official opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), has urged Pretoria to "engage with American representatives to get to the bottom of the circumstances that led to Mr Korkie's death".

"There was clearly a lack of intelligence," DA lawmaker Stevens Mokgalapa told AFP. "The left hand didn't know what the right was doing."

Still, he stopped short of censuring the Americans.

"It's a tragedy that happened. You can't point fingers. They were all trying to do the same thing — the Americans militarily and Gift of the Givers diplomatically — to get the hostages out of Yemen."

The sentiment resonated throughout a statement released by Yolande Korkie Saturday.

"How can we, with God's help, respond appropriately to this painful hour?" she wrote. "Will we win anything if we hate and accuse? Will this return Pierre to us? No... We choose to forgive."

SANAA/ADEN — A woman, a 10-year-old boy and a local Al Qaeda leader were among at least 11 people killed alongside two Western hostages when US-led forces battled militants in a failed rescue mission in Yemen, residents said on Sunday.

US special forces raided the village of Dafaar in Shabwa province, a militant stronghold in southern Yemen, shortly after midnight on Saturday, killing several members of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

American journalist Luke Somers, 33, and South African teacher Pierre Korkie, 56, were shot and killed by their captors during the raid intended to free the hostages, US officials said.

AQAP, formed in 2006 by the merger of the Yemeni and Saudi branches of the network, has for years been seen by Washington as one of the movement's most dangerous branches.

Western governments fear an advance by Shiite Muslim Houthi fighters with links to Iran has bolstered support among Yemeni Sunnis for AQAP, which has established itself in parts of south and east Yemen, including Shabwa where the raid took place.

However, since Islamic State in Syria and Iraq began distributing films of its militants executing Western hostages, the focus on AQAP, which has traditionally used hostage-taking as a way to raise funds, had diminished until now.

At least one Briton and a Turkish man are held by the group.

The Yemen-based group, loyal to the wider Al Qaeda organisation founded by the late Osama Bin Laden, has denounced IS, but Western and Gulf sources have said there may be operational connections between the two.

“AQAP and Daesh [Islamic State] are essentially the same organisation but have different methods of execution and tactics,” a senior Yemeni intelligence official said on the sidelines of a conference in Bahrain this weekend.

“They have killed hostages before, like the Yemeni special forces soldiers in Abyan in 2011. There are some AQAP cells that have pledged allegiance to the caliphate but there is division over the legitimacy of Daesh in its vision but not tactics.”

Loud explosions

Apart from the woman and the boy, reports on social media feeds of known militants said among those killed were an AQAP commander and two members of the group. Six other members of the same tribe also died, the reports said, although they could not be immediately verified.

The commander, identified as Jamal Mubarak Al Hard Al Daghari Al Awlaki, appeared to be the same person as Mubarak Al Harad, named in a Yemen defence ministry statement on Saturday as the leader of an AQAP group.

Several of those said by militants to have died were from the Daghari and Awlaki families, important tribes in Shabwa province. Yemen’s government said on Saturday the hostages were being held in the house of a man named Saeed Al Daghari.

As special forces battled Al Qaeda militants in the house, kidnappers in another building about 100 metres away shot and killed the two hostages, a local man who identified himself as Jamal said.

Senior US officials have said the raid was carried out by US forces alone, but both Yemen’s government and local residents said Yemeni forces also participated and engaged militants holding Somers and Korkie.

“Before the gunshots were heard, very strong floodlights turned the night into daylight, and then we heard loud explosions,” Jamal told Reuters. “The soldiers were calling on the house’s inhabitants to surrender and the speaker was clearly a Yemeni soldier,” he added.

Another witness, named Abdullah, said the Yemeni army had blocked access to the Wadi from all directions before the raid began.

“When the forces withdrew, we found lots of bloodstains, but did not know if those were of the soldiers or the hostages,” Abdullah said.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said the operation, the second attempt to free Somers in 10 days, had only been approved because of information that the American’s life was in imminent danger.

However, the Gift of the Givers relief group said it had negotiated for the teacher to be freed and had expected that to happen on Sunday.

The South African government said it had undertaken “numerous initiatives” to help free Korkie. His body was expected in South Africa on Monday.

Abdel-Razaq Al Jamal, a Yemeni journalist who specialises in covering Islamist militants, said AQAP may have originally intended to ransom Somers as well, but appeared to have been angered by the earlier failed rescue attempt on November 25.

“I don’t think this marks a change in position by Al Qaeda,” Jamal told Reuters. “It is clear that negotiations have preceded their threat to kill him,” he said.

BEIRUT — Syrian state television said on Sunday that Israeli jets had bombed areas near Damascus international airport and in the town of Dimas, near the border with Lebanon.

Israel has struck Syria several times since the start of the three-year conflict, mostly destroying weaponry such as missiles that Israeli officials said were destined for their long-time foe Hizbollah in neighbouring Lebanon.

"The Israeli enemy committed aggression against Syria by targeting two safe areas in Damascus province, in all of Dimas and near the Damascus International Airport," state television said, adding that there were no casualties.

An Israeli army spokesman said he would not comment on the "foreign reports".

Residents in Damascus said they heard loud explosions and opposition activists posted photos online of jet streams in the evening sky and fiery explosions. Syria's army general command said on state television that there were "material losses in some facilities". It said the strike benefited Al Qaeda.

Syria's state news agency SANA said the strikes were a "flagrant attack on Syria", while the official news agency in Lebanon said Israeli jets breached its airspace on Sunday.

A resident in the Damascus suburb of Qudsaya, close to Dimas, said the agricultural airport in Dimas was hit.

Dimas is in a mountainous area to the northwest of the capital which is under government control and close to several military installations.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks the conflict through a network of sources on both sides, said that 10 explosions were heard near Dimas. It said that one missile hit a warehouse for imports and exports at the Damascus international airport.

Syrian state media reported in May 2013 that Israeli aircraft struck in three places including the Dimas airport. At the time, Western and Israeli officials said it was a strike on Iranian missiles bound for Hizbollah, against whom Israel fought an inconclusive war in 2006.

Israel has avoided taking sides in Syria’s war and does not publicly confirm bombing missions, a policy it sees as aimed at avoiding provoking reprisals.

Syria’s war started with a pro-democracy movement which grew into an armed uprising and has inflamed regional confrontations. Some 200,000 people have died, the United Nations says.

A US-led coalition is also bombing Syria from the skies but targeting the Islamic State militant group, one of President Bashar Assad’s biggest foes.

WASHINGTON — US Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday he was "deeply disappointed" by reports that a US journalist jailed in Iran had been charged and denied bail more than four months after his arrest.

Jason Rezaian, a Washington Post bureau chief in Tehran who holds dual US-Iranian citizenship, was charged Saturday after a lengthy court appearance, the Post reports.

But the specific accusations remain unclear, according to the newspaper, and it is not known when he will next appear in court.

Rezaian, 38, was arrested on July 22 with his wife, Yeganeh Salehi, who was freed on bail in October. Last week, Iranian authorities said Rezaian's detention would be extended for up to 60 days.

Kerry said he was "distressed" at how Rezaian's case had been handled, and slammed Iran for flouting the law by denying him access to a lawyer.

"The United States is deeply disappointed and concerned by reports that the Iranian judiciary has charged Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian with unspecified charges, and that the judge denied his request to be released on bail," Kerry said in a statement.

He called on the Iranian authorities to drop the charges "and release him immediately".

Kerry said denying access to an attorney "is a clear violation of Iran's own laws and international norms".

"I am personally dismayed and disturbed at these reports as I have repeatedly raised Jason's case."

According to the Washington Post, Saturday's court hearing lasted 10 hours and Rezaian appeared alongside a translator who explained the charges to him.

The newspaper said Rezaian signed a document signaling that he understood the charges being brought against him.

Kerry said requests to access Rezaian in prison had been denied, and that his family was concerned for his health.

"We share the concerns of Mr Rezaian's family regarding reports that he is under physical and psychological distress, and is not receiving proper medical care," Kerry said.

It remains unclear why Rezaian, 38, and Salehi were arrested on July 22, though one conservative newspaper in Tehran has accused Rezaian of espionage.

Rezaian's detention has attracted considerable attention amid the ongoing talks between Iran and the United States and other world powers over the Islamic republic's disputed nuclear programme.

LONDON — The widow of British aid worker David Haines, who was taken hostage and beheaded by Islamic State militants, branded his killers inhuman monsters in her first television interview broadcast Sunday.

Dragana Haines said she felt marked for life by the grief of losing her husband, and was struggling to tell their four-year-old daughter Athea that he would not be coming home.

"They consider themselves brave; that's not bravery," she told Britain's Sky News television, speaking from their home in Croatia.

"It's a cowardly act to behead someone who has his hands tied behind his back, who is kneeling.”

"You are not a human being. You must be a monster to do something like that."

Relief agency worker Haines, 44, was helping refugees in a camp in Syria near the Turkish border in March 2013 when he was kidnapped.

His murder was revealed in a video released in September by Islamic State, the extremist group that has seized control of vast swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria.

Dragana Haines said she did not know how to explain things to their daughter, telling her only that they were now alone and had to help each other.

"I'm trying to make her understand that Daddy's not coming back," she said.

She spoke of the agony waiting for news of her husband.

"Every day was a challenge. Waking up in the morning and thinking should I be hopeful, would it be a day when they will call me, or he will call me and say 'OK, I'm free, I'm coming back'?”

"Or would it be a day when they will call me and say something bad has happened?"

When she was called by David's brother, who told her that her husband's captors could not hurt him any more, "that actually marked me for the rest of my life.”

"I saw him in the video. I just saw the part when he was talking," she said breaking down.

"David gave sense to my life. He made it something different. He changed it. And now Athea is my reason to go on. She gives me strength. David would want me to be strong for our daughter," she said, tears filling her eyes.

The interview comes after US special forces attempted a rescue operation in Yemen Saturday that ended with Al Qaeda killing American photojournalist Luke Somers and South African teacher Pierre Korkie.

Since August, five Western hostages have been murdered by IS militants.

US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, American aid worker Peter Kassig and British aid workers Alan Henning and Haines were all beheaded.

SANAA — At least 70 Ethiopians drowned when a boat used by smugglers to transport illegal migrants to Yemen sank in the Red Sea in rough weather, security authorities in the western part of the country said on Sunday.

Human traffickers often use unseaworthy boats to smuggle African migrants to Yemen, seen as a gateway to wealthier parts of the Middle East, such as Saudi Arabia and Oman, and the West.

Security authorities in Taiz province said the small boat sank on Saturday due to high winds and rough seas off the country's Al Makha port.

They said the boat was carrying 70 people, all of them Ethiopians.

Tens of thousands of migrants from Africa, the Middle East and beyond crowd into often unsafe boats each year and many drown.

In March, at least 42 illegal African migrants drowned in the Arabian Sea off the southern coast of Yemen.

WASHINGTON — US Vice President Joe Biden Saturday dismissed the "malarkey" about efforts to reach a nuclear deal with Iran, and reassured Israel its security would not be put at risk.

"There's absolutely no daylight, none, between us and the Israelis on the question of Israel's security," Biden told the pro-Israel Saban forum in Washington.

"But as friends we have an obligation to speak honestly with one another. To talk about, not avoid the tactical disagreements we have."

Israel has publicly criticised US-led efforts to reach a deal to rein in Iran's suspect nuclear programme, warning the administration of President Barack Obama is being fooled by the new, more moderate face of the Iranian leadership.

Relations have also become strained over failed efforts to try to reach an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, amid private mud-slinging by both American and Israeli officials.

But Biden urged that such spats should not be allowed to overshadow relations.

"Let's not make more of what are normal disagreements between friends than warrants," Biden said.

And he insisted that "every aspect of" the Iran policy had been "discussed in detail" with Israel.

"There's been a lot of malarkey about our position on Iran. So let me state it absolutely clearly," Biden said.

"We will not let Iran acquire a nuclear weapon, period, period. End of discussion. It will not happen on our watch."

The global powers known as the P5+1 who are leading the efforts to stop Iran developing a nuclear weapon have extended their talks until June 30, after they failed to meet a November deadline for a deal.

"A diplomatic solution that puts significant and verifiable constraints on Iran's nuclear programme represents the best and most sustainable chance to ensure that America, Israel, the entire Middle East will never be menaced by a nuclear-armed Iran," Biden insisted.

And he urged "please let's keep whatever disagreements we have in perspective, because... they don't go to the essence of who we are as Americans and who Israelis are".