US welcomes release of Turkish hostages

WASHINGTON - Anadolu Agency

The freed Turkish hostages are welcomed at the airport in Ankara on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2014. AP Photo

The United States welcomed on Sept. 20 the release of nearly 50 Turkish hostages held by extremists in Iraq since June.

“We welcome their release and are pleased they will soon be reunited with their families,” National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said in a statement sent to Anadolu Agency.      

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said the 49 hostages who were held by the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul were freed and brought back to Turkey early Sept. 20.

They were kidnapped from the Turkish consulate in Mosul on June 11, a day after ISIL took control of Iraq’s second-largest city.