Turkish pilots kidnapped in Lebanon
Gunmen have ambushed a van carrying a Turkish Airlines crew in the Lebanese capital and kidnapped a pilot and a co-pilot.
Six gunmen ambushed the vehicle on an old airport road in Beirut, snatched the two men, both Turkish nationals, and let the rest continue on, officials said.
The van was travelling between the Rafik Hariri International Airport to a hotel in Beirut when the ambush took place.
Although there was no claim of responsibility for the ambush or a demand for ransom, the incident is likely to be related to the civil war in neighbouring Syria, which has deeply divided the Lebanese. The Syrian rebels, who are backed by Turkey, have been holding nine Lebanese Shiites hostage since last year.
The Turkish crew had landed a Turkish Airlines plane with 144 passengers on board at 3.30am local time .
Authorities were investigating and the road where the kidnapping occurred has been closed off with several police checkpoints.
Lebanon’s state National News Agency reported that the driver of the van was being questioned and that eight gunmen were involved in the abduction. The report said the Turkish crew had six members in all.
In Turkey, Foreign Ministry spokesman Levent Gumrukcu confirmed the kidnapping and said the rest of the crew was still in Beirut but expected to return to Turkey within hours.
“We don’t know who did this and for what purpose,” Mr Gumrukcu said, adding that the Turkish government was in close contact with Lebanese officials over the case.
Turkey supports the Sunni Muslim rebels fighting to topple the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, which is dominated by Alawites, an offshoot sect of Shiite Islam.
The Lebanese are deeply divided over Syria’s civil war, with Shiites largely supporting the regime in Damascus and Sunnis backing the rebels. Both Sunni militants, and fighters from Lebanon’s dominant Shiite Hezbollah group, have been fighting on opposite sides in the conflict.
