ISTANBUL – Up to five suspected Kurdish militants claiming to be carrying a bomb hijacked a passenger ferry carrying 25 people in northwestern Turkey yesterday, the country’s transport minister said.
Coast guard vessels were tracking the ferry in the Gulf of Izmit but they had not made contact with the hijackers, minister Binali Yildirim told the NTV news channel.
He said the hijackers had not yet made any demands.
Between four and five hijackers were on board the ferry in the Marmara Sea, east of Istanbul, and one of the assailants was standing next to the ship’s captain claiming to be carrying a bomb, he said.
“One of the terrorists is standing next to the captain and says he has explosives on him,” Mr Yildirim said.
“He is saying they are a wing of the terror organisation,” he added, using a common description for the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). “So far there has been no concrete demand.” – (Reuters)