Turkey: IS has taken 3 soliders hostage

Members of the banned militant outfit, Islamic State, were seen burning Turkish soldiers alive.

Istanbul, Dec 24: Turkey's Minister of Defence said that the Islamic State jihadist group had taken three Turkish soldiers hostage. Defense Minister Fikri Isik confirmed on Friday that the IS had captured three servicemen, but was unable to provide further detail, Efe news agency reported. "We know that three of our soldiers are in the hands of Daesh (IS), but apart from that, everything else is an interpretation," Isik said.

The minister's statement came after a video emerged on social media on Thursday that appeared to show purported IS members burning two captured Turkish soldiers to death.

The video, released on Thursday, shows the two victims and an apparent IS militant speaking in Turkish during the 19-minute recording, whose authenticity could not be confirmed. They confess to having fought against "the soldiers of the caliphate" -- as IS calls the territory it controls -- and say that they were captured in action near Aleppo. The video then proceeds to show the Turks, wearing uniforms that seem to have been doused with gasoline, being burned alive.

IANS