Turkey says Taliban frees four Turks kidnapped in Afghanistan

Turkey says the Taliban militants have released four of the eight Turkish nationals they had kidnapped in a helicopter crash landing in Afghanistan in April.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday, “Eight Turkish engineers were kidnapped recently in Afghanistan when their helicopter crash landed. Thanks to the efforts of MIT (Turkish intelligence), four of them were handed over to us and are safe.”

The Taliban militants kidnapped the Turks along with a Russian, a Kyrgyz and an Afghan national aboard the helicopter after it crash landed in Afghanistan’s eastern province of Logar in late April.

Hamidullah Hamid, the governor of Hazra District in Nangarhar Province neighboring Logar, said that the four Turks were released “after the efforts and mediation of tribal leaders.”

“Four Turkish nationals were freed in a remote area of Nangarhar Province this afternoon. They were handed over to a Turkish delegation,” Hamid stated.

Taliban has made no comments on the issue so far.

Over 1,800 non-combat Turkish soldiers are stationed in Afghanistan.