Turkish security forces shot dead a suspected Kurdish rebel hijacker in a pre-dawn raid early Saturday, ending a hour hostage situation on a high-speed ferry in northwest Turkey, authorities said.
AFP - Turkish commandos killed a Kurdish rebel Saturday after he hijacked a ferry with 24 people aboard in the country's northwest, and brought his hostages to safety after a hour ordeal. Special forces stormed the ferry, carrying 18 passengers at dawn and killed the hijacker off the coast of Silivri, a town west of Istanbul, media reports and hostage accounts said.
We kept our silence. There were about 15 people," another former hostage, an elderly man with silver hair, told NTV after testifying to police. The rebel was carrying three pieces of A-4 explosives, each grammes about a pound , the minister said, adding that the incident was "serious" but "successfully" handled.
He said it was not possible to arrest the hijacker alive. Officials' remarks conflicted over the hijacker's connections with the PKK and whether he was carrying a real bomb. Kocaeli governor Ercan Topaca said earlier that the hijacker was carrying a fake bomb made up of wires and bottles. Topaca also voiced suspicions over his connection with the PKK. The boat was plying its normal route in the north of the Sea of Marmara when it was seized and it was anchored off Silivri after sailing in circles until it ran out of gas, according to media reports.
The hijacker told the ferry's captain that he wanted media publicity, mayor Ismail Karaosmanoglu said. The attacker had conveyed demands for food and fuel through the captured captain. The island of Imrali, where Ocalan, the jailed PKK leader, is held, is about kilometres 75 miles southwest of the hijacking spot.
