Neptune
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Congratulations to National Intelligence Agency's Department of External Operations. We honor every sigle service member involved in this process ![Cheers :cheers: :cheers:](/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/cute/cheers.gif)
Almost 50 Turkish hostages being held by Islamic State have been freed overnight.
President Tayyip Erdogan said Turkish intelligence agents had brought the 49 hostages back into the country following a covert rescue operation.
No ransom was paid for their release, Turkish media reports.
The hostages, including Turkey's consul-general, diplomats' children and special forces soldiers, are now in the southern city of Sanliurfa, and will be taken to the capital Ankara today.
In a statement, President Erdogan said: "I thank the prime minister and his colleagues for the pre-planned, carefully calculated and secretly-conducted operation throughout the night.
"[The Turkish intelligence agency] has followed the situation very sensitively and patiently since the beginning and, as a result, conducted a successful rescue operation."
The hostages were seized from the Turkish consulate in Mosul on June 11 by IS insurgents.
Security sources said they were released on the Syrian side of the border with Turkey after travelling from the eastern Syrian city of Raqqa - Islamic State’s stronghold.
The rapid and brutal advance of Islamic State, bent on establishing a hub of jihadism in the centre of the Arab world and on Turkey’s southern fringe, has alarmed Ankara and the West, forcing them to step up intelligence sharing and tighten security cooperation.
America is drawing up plans for military action in Syria against Islamic State fighters, but Turkey had made clear it did not want to take a frontline role, partly because of fears for the fate of the hostages.
The militants have already beheaded two American journalists, James Foley andSteven Sotloff, and British aid worker David Haines.
They are now threatening a second British aid worker, Alan Henning.
British and American officials have said in recent weeks that their nationals had been killed by Islamic State militants in part because other countries were paying ransoms.
France was able to secure the release of four of its nationals in Syria earlier this year, after what President Francois Hollande said was help from other countries.
Hollande reaffirmed on Thursday that Paris did not pay ransoms or exchange prisoners for the release of its citizens that are held hostage overseas.
49 Islamic State hostages rescued by Turkey - Mirror Online
![Cheers :cheers: :cheers:](/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/cute/cheers.gif)
President Tayyip Erdogan said Turkish intelligence agents had brought the 49 hostages back into the country following a covert rescue operation.
No ransom was paid for their release, Turkish media reports.
The hostages, including Turkey's consul-general, diplomats' children and special forces soldiers, are now in the southern city of Sanliurfa, and will be taken to the capital Ankara today.
In a statement, President Erdogan said: "I thank the prime minister and his colleagues for the pre-planned, carefully calculated and secretly-conducted operation throughout the night.
"[The Turkish intelligence agency] has followed the situation very sensitively and patiently since the beginning and, as a result, conducted a successful rescue operation."
The hostages were seized from the Turkish consulate in Mosul on June 11 by IS insurgents.
Security sources said they were released on the Syrian side of the border with Turkey after travelling from the eastern Syrian city of Raqqa - Islamic State’s stronghold.
The rapid and brutal advance of Islamic State, bent on establishing a hub of jihadism in the centre of the Arab world and on Turkey’s southern fringe, has alarmed Ankara and the West, forcing them to step up intelligence sharing and tighten security cooperation.
America is drawing up plans for military action in Syria against Islamic State fighters, but Turkey had made clear it did not want to take a frontline role, partly because of fears for the fate of the hostages.
The militants have already beheaded two American journalists, James Foley andSteven Sotloff, and British aid worker David Haines.
They are now threatening a second British aid worker, Alan Henning.
British and American officials have said in recent weeks that their nationals had been killed by Islamic State militants in part because other countries were paying ransoms.
France was able to secure the release of four of its nationals in Syria earlier this year, after what President Francois Hollande said was help from other countries.
Hollande reaffirmed on Thursday that Paris did not pay ransoms or exchange prisoners for the release of its citizens that are held hostage overseas.
49 Islamic State hostages rescued by Turkey - Mirror Online
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