Turkish truck driver shot for failing to pray

ANKARA, Turkey – Gunmen in Iraq have stopped a convoy of trucks and killed a Turkish truck driver who was unable to recite prayers, a report said yesterday.

Gunmen stopped the convoy in northern Iraq, some 70 kilometres from the border with Turkey on Monday and killed trucker Osman Alisan, CNN-Turk television said. The Turkish foreign ministry could not confirm the report, but the Anatolia news agency said Alisan’s employers had notified the trucker’s family of his death and were making arrangements to bring his body back to Turkey.The father of three, who had taken the job to pay debts, was returning to Turkey after delivering fuel to US forces in Iraq, the report said.Since then, Turkey’s truckers association has said it was halting deliveries to US forces in Iraq in hopes of freeing Turks kidnapped in Iraq after the release of a video that showed militants shooting and killing Turkish contractor Murat Yuce.On Wednesday, the Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s Tawhid and Jihad group responsible for Yuve’s execution-style slaying said in a statement that it has decided to release two kidnapped Turkish truck drivers, Abdurrahman Demir and Sait Unurlu.Foreign minister Abdullah Gul later confirmed that the two had been freed.But a foreign ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said at least two other Turks are still missing in Iraq – believed to have been kidnapped.They include translator Aytullah Gezmen who is believed to have been kidnapped along with Yuce, and truck driver Tevfik Alkan who has been missing for almost a month.CNN-Turk said another Turkish truck driver, Selahattin Turan, has been missing for about a week and is also believed to have been kidnapped.The foreign ministry official could not confirm that report.Last month, the brother of a Turkish trucker, missing for two months, found the man’s body in a Baghdad morgue.He had been killed in an armed attack near Baghdad, reports said.- Nampa-APThe Turkish foreign ministry could not confirm the report, but the Anatolia news agency said Alisan’s employers had notified the trucker’s family of his death and were making arrangements to bring his body back to Turkey.The father of three, who had taken the job to pay debts, was returning to Turkey after delivering fuel to US forces in Iraq, the report said.Since then, Turkey’s truckers association has said it was halting deliveries to US forces in Iraq in hopes of freeing Turks kidnapped in Iraq after the release of a video that showed militants shooting and killing Turkish contractor Murat Yuce.On Wednesday, the Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s Tawhid and Jihad group responsible for Yuve’s execution-style slaying said in a statement that it has decided to release two kidnapped Turkish truck drivers, Abdurrahman Demir and Sait Unurlu.Foreign minister Abdullah Gul later confirmed that the two had been freed.But a foreign ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said at least two other Turks are still missing in Iraq – believed to have been kidnapped.They include translator Aytullah Gezmen who is believed to have been kidnapped along with Yuce, and truck driver Tevfik Alkan who has been missing for almost a month.CNN-Turk said another Turkish truck driver, Selahattin Turan, has been missing for about a week and is also believed to have been kidnapped.The foreign ministry official could not confirm that report.Last month, the brother of a Turkish trucker, missing for two months, found the man’s body in a Baghdad morgue.He had been killed in an armed attack near Baghdad, reports said.- Nampa-AP