MOSCOW, September 20 (RIA Novosti) - All 49 staff members of the Turkish consulate in Iraq, held captive since June by Islamic State (IS) militants, have safely returned home, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Saturday.
"Today we brought our citizens who were detained in Iraq to our country at 5 a.m.," Davutoglu said on his Twitter account.
In mid-June, media reports suggested that IS militants took prisoner 49 staff members of the Turkish consulate in Iraq, including the Turkish consul and diplomats.
The IS, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), is a radical Sunni group, which has been fighting the Syrian government since 2012. In June 2014, it launched attacks in northern and western Iraq, announcing later the establishment of a caliphate on the territories under its control.
Last week, US President Barack Obama announced a strategy to counter the IS threat, implying the creation of a broad anti-IS coalition.
