Turkish forces shoot dead ferry hijacker after boarding the boat and posing as hostages
Commandos in civilian clothes slipped onto a hijacked passenger ferry and posed as hostages before fatally shooting a suspected Kurdish rebel carrying explosives in a 12-hour drama that ended before dawn Saturday.
There were no other casualties aboard the Kartepe, that was hijacked on Friday after it left the northwestern port city of Izmit. There were 18 passengers on board, including five women, as well as four crew and two trainees, authorities said.
( / Associated Press ) - The hijacked passenger boat Kartepe is surrounded by coastal guards shortly before a commando raid in the Sea of Marmara, west of Istanbul, Turkey, early Saturday, Nov. 12, 2011. Turkish security forces ended a 12-hour hostage drama by killing a Kurdish rebel hijacker, who commandeered the ferry with 18 passengers, in the pre-dawn lightning raid on Saturday, authorities said. No one else was hurt.
Despite the success of the raid, the hijacking drew attention to the conflict with Kurdish rebels who have stepped up attacks on government forces in the country’s southeast this year. The Turkish military has responded by staging an air and ground offensive against rebel hideouts in neighboring Iraq. The rebels, who are considered terrorists by Turkey and the West, are seeking autonomy in Turkey’s mostly Kurdish southeast.
Coast guard boats and helicopters had shadowed the vessel for much of its journey before it was forced to anchor off the port town of Silivri, west of Istanbul, Interior Minister Idris Naim Sahin said.