Abducted Turkish Truck Drivers Reportedly Being Released

July 03, 2014

Turkish media reports say the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has begun releasing 32 Turkish truck drivers kidnapped last month during the Islamist group's takeover of Mosul, in northern Iraq.

The truck drivers are reportedly being escorted by ISIL fighters to Irbil, in the Kurdish autonomous region of Iraq, to be handed to authorities there.

One truck driver told Turkey's NTV television that some abductees were in poor health.

ISIL militants who stormed the Turkish Consulate in Mosul in June also kidnapped 49 other Turks, including the consul, staff members, guards, and three children.

There is still no information regarding their whereabouts.

The Al-Qaeda splinter group, which says it now wants to be called the Islamic State, has declared a "caliphate" in territories it seized across Iraq and Syria.

Based on reporting by Reuters, AP, AFP, and dpa