A Turkish plane carrying 11 Palestinian prisoners, released as part of a deal that freed Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, has landed at an Ankara airport, a foreign ministry official said.
The plane landed at Esenboga airport (Ankara) after bringing the 11 Palestinian former inmates, including one woman, from Cairo airport in Egypt, the official told AFP.
Television footage showed the freed inmates making victory signs as they were taken from the airport under tight security measures.
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"We extend our deepest thanks to Turkey," the Palestinian ambassador to Turkey, Nabil Marouf, was quoted as saying by the private NTV television.
It was not immediately clear where the 11 Palestinian prisoners would stay and for how long. The Palestinian envoy said that would be decided by the Turkish government.
Israel on Tuesday began releasing 1,027 Palestinian prisoners in two stages in exchange for the handover of Shalit, who was snatched by Hamas militants in June 2006.
Shalit has arrived back in Israel and is reunited with his family, Israeli officials announced.
Turkey had said it was ready to host some of the released Palestinian detainees along with Qatar and Egypt.
