ANKARA - A Turkish Airlines plane en route to Afghanistan returned to Istanbul early Tuesday morning over bomb scare due to an abandoned mobile phone found on the plane, local media reported.

The Airbus 320, on flight number TK-706 for the Afghan capital Kabul, left Istanbul's Ataturk airport with 135 passengers onboard, but cabin crew found an abandoned mobile phone just after takeoff.

The captain informed the airport traffic control tower on suspicion of bomb and decided to return.

Police searched the aircraft without finding any suspicions.