Militants parked explosive-laden pickups in front of Mosul consulate, Turkish hostage says

GAZİANTEP – Doğan News Agency

Veysel Can with his wife, Melek. DHA Photo

The Turkish consulate in Mosul was surrounded by around 1,000 Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants, who parked three vehicles full of explosives next to the facility, on the day that the 49 consular staff were seized by ISIL, one of the Turkish hostages has said.

Special operations policeman Veysel Can was taken hostage by the group and released with the others after 101 day of captivity on Sept. 20.

Speaking to Doğan News Agency in his hometown of Gaziantep, Can said the staff inside surrendered without any clashes, on the order of Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, who was foreign minister at the time.

The militants distributed written notices and announced they were preparing for a “bloody revenge,” he said, adding that one ISIL militant was killed in the raid.

“On the day of the raid, they came to our door. A Turkmen militant told us to open the gate. We said this was impossible. Then, they parked three pick-ups full of, according to my estimation, more than 500 kilograms of explosives. We were surrounded by about 1,000 people. Most of them were carrying guns. There were militants with bazookas on the roofs of houses. Then, our consul general talked to [Davutoğlu] on the phone,” Can said. “On his order, we did not get involved in any clashes and surrendered.”  

The group was then moved to eight different locations in Mosul and survived air attacks during the transfers, he also said.