Turkish hostages 'freed'

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Saturday that 49 hostages seized by "Islamic State" (IS) militants in northern Iraq more than three months ago have arrived safely back in Turkey.

The hostages, including Turkish diplomats, soldiers and children, were kidnapped from the Turkish consulate-general in the city of Mosul on June 11.

Davutoglu said the hostages were freed early on Saturday. He said they were being brought to the southern Turkish city of Sanliurfa, accompanied by members of the intelligence agency, and that he would travel back from an official visit to Azerbaijan to meet them.

"Today at 5 am we brought our citizens who were detained in Iraq to our country. From my heart, I thank the families who maintained their dignity," Davutoglu said on this Twitter account.

He did not provide details on their release, but said all were in good health.

'Pre-planned operation'

However, in a written statement, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkish authorities had carried out a "pre-planned, detailed and secret operation."

"It continued all through the night and was successfully completed in the early morning. From the very first day, our intelligence agency has followed the issue with patience and determination and finally carried out a successful rescue operation," the statement said.

The IS militants seized the hostages during a lightning offensive in June during which they captured large swathes of territory in northern Iraq, including Mosul.

The militants, formerly known as ISIS or ISIL, had captured 32 Turkish truck drivers earlier in the month, releasing them a month later.

Fears for the fate of the hostages have been a factor in preventing Turkey, a NATO member and key US ally in the Middle East, from taking any frontline role in planned US military action against the jihadist group operating over its southern borders in Iraq and Syria.

tj/jm (Reuters, AP)