ANKARA: Turkey said yesterday the two pilots kidnapped in Lebanon earlier this month are alive, and that it knows roughly where they are.
The Turkish Airlines pilots were kidnapped on August 9 when gunmen ambushed a bus carrying the national airliner’s crew from Beirut airport to a hotel in the city. “Their whereabouts are more or less known. We know that they are alive, in peace and comfort,” Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc told reporters after a cabinet meeting.
“I hope we will reach them soon,” he added. A previously unknown group calling itself Zuwwar Imam
Al Rida has claimed the kidnapping, demanding Turkey use its influence with Syria’s rebels to secure the release of nine Lebanese Shias kidnapped in Syria in May 2012. AFP
