Days after releasing a video, a Shiite militia group that identified itself as "Death Squad" has freed two out of the 18 kidnapped Turkish workers near the southern oil city of Basra.
A Reuters report--citing the Turkish ambassador in Baghdad, Faruk Kaymakci--said that the two are in good health and so are the remaining 16, who still remain in captivity.
The Turkish media identified the freed men as Necdet Yilmaz and Ercan Ozpilavci and reported that they were found on late Tuesday evening near an under construction hospital, being built by a Turkish company.
There was, however, no clarity as to why and how the two were released.
The development comes days after a Shiite militia group that identifies itself as "Death Squad" claimed responsibility for the abduction of the 18 workers from Baghdad.
In the three-minute video available on YouTube, released on 11 September, the kidnappers demanded Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to stop giving safe passage to Islamic State (Isis) terrorists from Turkey to Iraq.
Baghdad, which is struggling to rein in the Shiite militia in recent months, has not been able to confirm if the kidnappers belong to an established group.
