A Lebanese Shiite militia ambushed a bus carrying a Turkish Airlines pilot and his assistant in Beirut as they left the airport early morning on Friday.
The kidnapping operation took place at 3 a.m. targeting a bus carrying several members of a Turkish Airlines crew going from the airport to the hotel,” Lebanon’s Interior Minister Marwan Charbel told AFP.
“Gunmen kidnapped two passengers from the bus — the pilot and copilot,” he added.
In Turkey, the kidnapped pilot was named as Murat Akpinar and his copilot Murat Agca.
Lebanese media reported that a group named Zouar Imam Reza claimed responsibility for the abduction and offered their release in exchange for nine Lebanese Shiites kidnapped near the Turkish-Syrian border last year.
Lebanese Shiite group claims kidnapping of 2 Turkish pilots
