2 of Turkish workers taken hostage in Iraq released

Two out of 18 Turkish construction workers abducted by Shiite gunmen in Baghdad this month have been set free in Basra, the Turkish ambassador were quoted by Turkish media as saying on Wednesday.

"They are in good health. They are saying the other 16 are also in good health," Turkish ambassador to Iraq, Faruk Kaymakci, said.

Turkish media identified the freed men as Necdet Yilmaz and Ercan Ozpilavci. They were among 18 employees of Turkish construction company Nurol Insaat, taken from Baghdad's Shiite-dominated Sadr City suburb on September 2.

The two men were released overnight near a Turkish hospital building in the southern oil city of Basra, local officials said Wednesday.

Last week, the hostages appeared in a video from a previously unknown militant group presenting itself as Shiite.

In the clip, the militants threatened to attack Turkish interests if its demands - for Turkey to halt the flow of militants into Iraq and to order rebel forces to stop besieging Shiite villages in Syria - weren't met.

Source: MENA