Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt thanked Turkey for bringing Swedish citizens on board Gaza aid ships raided by the Israeli military.

Swedish foreign minister was in Istanbul in the early hours on Thursday to welcome Swedish citizens deported by Israel after the Israeli raid on Gaza aid convoy. Turkish planes carrying Gaza activists landed in Istanbul in the small hours of Thursday morning.

Bildt said Swedish officials carried out a close cooperation with their Turkish counterparts in bringing activists from Israel's Ben Gurion Airport.

Bildt told Swedish newspapers that next thing to do was a political action against Israel, adding European foreign ministers would bring up the issue of an independent investigation into Israeli raid.

Foreign ministers of EU countries will discuss Israeli attack and Gaza blockade at their meeting in Luxembourg on June 14 he said.

"Israel is up against a very big political problem," Bildt said.

On Monday, an Israeli raid on the convoy of ships with more than 600 people on board killed nine people and injured nearly 30 others. Eight of the dead were Turkish citizens, one of them was a U.S. citizen of Turkish origin.

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