MOSUL, Iraq – Islamist militants who have captured several Iraqi cities and are advancing toward Baghdad are holding 28 Turkish-Kurd truck drivers, promising they will not be harmed, said a Rudaw correspondent who spoke with one of the detainees.
The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which captured Mosul on Tuesday, also took over the Turkish consulate in the northwestern city, moving diplomats and staff to another location and assuring Turkey they will not be harmed.
The drivers are being held by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) at a former US military base in Gayara.
One of the drivers who spoke to Rudaw in Mosul said, "They are in good condition and nothing has happened to any of them.”
"There are four guards watching us, but many militants in Gayara. The guards treat us well," said the driver who spoke to Rudaw. He said guards, who are armed, have reassured the drivers they will be released unharmed.
The Sunni ISIS, a splinter of al-Qaeda that has captured one-third of Iraq in lightning advances, has said its quarrel is only with Iraq’s Shia-led government.
The militants overran Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, on Tuesday, seizing government installations and weapons left behind by a fleeing Iraqi Army that has collapsed in the face of the onslaughts.
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