Turkish hostage freed

A Turkish driver abducted in Iraq earlier this month has been freed after he promised his captors that he would not return to the country, a media report said today.

Mehmet Dayar, who was abducted on July 17 after a convoy of trucks came under attack in the northern city of Mosul, was released after 12 days of captivity, private CNN-Turk television said.

The driver has returned to his hometown of Cizre, in Sirnak province, which borders Iraq, the station said.

The report said Dayar was part of a convoy that was transporting fuel to American troops. Another Turkish driver, Abdulcelil Bayik, was killed in the attack.

Dayar’s captors freed him after he promised never to return to Iraq, the report said.

Several Turkish drivers have been killed or taken hostage amid the violence in Iraq.

Last week, the brother of a Turkish driver who had gone missing for about two months, found the driver’s body in a Baghdad morgue.

The Anatolia news agency said the driver, Cemal Ugur, was killed in an armed attack near Baghdad, but it was not clear when the attack occurred.