Thirty-one Turkish truck drivers, captured Tuesday by militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) as they were transporting fuel to a thermal power plant in Mosul, have been released, Turkey's international transport association announced.
"We are in constant contact with the drivers. They will leave Mosul once the unloading procedure is completed," Cetin Nuhoglu, Chairman of Turkey’s International Transport Companies Association (UND) told The Anadolu Agency Thursday.
"They are having some difficulties with the transport procedure at the moment, so it is not certain when they will exactly leave Mosul," he said.
The drivers were captured by militants after the ISIL fighters raided the plant in the Gyarah region of Mosul -- Iraq's second-largest city -- where ISIL reportedly assumed full control early Tuesday. ISIL also kidnapped Wednesday 49 Turkish consulate staff members in Mosul.
www.aa.com.tr/en
