Two Turkish Pilots Kidnapped in Lebanon

BEIRUT,(ST)_ Gunmen on Friday kidnapped one TurkishPilot and his assistant at Kokoday bridge near Beirut International Airport.

The Lebanese National Media Agency  said that eight gunmen intercepted a bus belongs  to one of the hotels in Beirut while  on its way from Beirut International Airport to a hotel in Ein Mreisseh and kidnapped pilot Murad Akbeinar  and his assistant Murad Agha who work for  the Turkish Airlines.

The Lebanese state news agency said a group called Zuwaar al-Imam Rida claimed responsibility for the kidnapping. The group, which was previously unknown, said in a statement that the pilots “will only be released when the Lebanese hostages in Syria return,” the agency said. The veracity of the claim could not be immediately verified, according to AP.

In May 2012, a rebel faction in northern Syria took hostage 11 Lebanese who had been on a bus tour of religious sites in the area.

A representative for the Lebanese hostages’ families denied that there was any link between Friday’s kidnapping and the captives in Syria.

Following Friday’s kidnapping, the Turkish Foreign Ministry urged its citizens in Lebanon to be vigilant and to return to Turkey if possible. It also warned against unnecessary travel to the country.

“In the light of the current situation, unless there is a vital necessity, it would be appropriate for citizens to refrain from traveling to Lebanon,” the ministry said in a statement.

A spokesman for Turkey’s Foreign Ministry, Levent Gumrukcu, said Ankara did not know who was behind the kidnapping or their motive.

Lebanon’s state news agency said the four crew members who were not abducted, three women and one man, left Beirut on a Turkish Airlines flight Friday evening.

T. Fateh