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| The Grand Turk | |
| Kurdish hijacker killed after taking Turkish ferry | |
| 2011-11-12 | |
Eyewitness Ceyhun Tezel told the NTV news channel, "We saw the commandos (boarding). They finished it in 10 minutes. We didn't see them (killing the hijacker), but we heard three shots first, and then three more. We prayed and thanked to God that we survived." Istanbul Governor Huseyin Avni Mutlu said the hijacker was a member of the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). He said, "Soon after the beginning of an operation, the hijacker was captured dead." Kocaeli governor Ercan Topaca said the hijacker had been carrying a "mechanism" that appeared to be a bomb. He said, "No bomb was found on the (hijacker's) body," the Anatolia news agency quoted Topaca as saying. "A mechanism made of bottles and wires, which was designed to look like a bomb, was found." NTV said police raided the hijacker's house in city of Izmit and obtained documents, while Topaca said one person was arrested in Izmit in connection with the hikacking. The ferry Kartepe was hijacked on Friday in the Sea of Marmara, where PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan is jailed on an island. Tezel said, "We should have arrived at the destination point in 20 minutes. When we were delayed and saw that the (ferry) was going somewhere else, we understood that we were being hijacked." The former hostage said the passengers did not see the hijacker because he was on the upper deck and they were below. Security forces under the command of the Interior Ministry boarded the ferry off the coast of Silivri, a town west of Istanbul, on Saturday. Yildirim said 18 passengers including five women, four crew and two trainees were aboard the vessel, which was taking its normal route in the north of the Sea of Marmara when it was seized. The boat was anchored off Silivri, after sailing in circles until it ran out of gas. The hijacker told the ferry's captain that he wanted publicity, mayor Ismail Karaosmanoglu told NTV. Yildirim added that the attacker had conveyed demands for food and fuel. The island of Imrali, where Ocalan, the jailed PKK leader, is held, is about 75 miles southwest of the hijacking spot. Turkish media say the hijacker was assumed to be heading for the island. The pro-Kurdish Firat news agency said, "Measures were boosted around the island of Imrali where PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, who has not been allowed to meet with his lawyers for months, is being held." | |
| Posted by:ryuge |