Turkey frees 7 hostages after 9-hour stand-off with pro-Gaza gunman
- The accused, who appeared to be wearing a suicide vest, was detained unharmed during the incident at a plant owned by US firm P&G in Istanbul
- Relatives of the hostages had questioned why the assailant would target workers in Turkey – a country strongly supportive of the Palestinian cause
Turkish police on Thursday released seven workers taken hostage by a pro-Palestinian gunman at a plant near Istanbul owned by US consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble in protest at the war in Gaza.
Local officials said police staged a raid nearly nine hours into the stand-off when the lone gunman took a bathroom break.
The man was detained unharmed, local governor Seddar Yavuz told reporters.
“The man’s aim was to stop Israel’s massacre in Gaza and to open the Rafah gate in Egypt” for the delivery of humanitarian aid for trapped civilians, Yavuz said. “When he went out for a bathroom break, our security forces carried out an operation without harming the hostages.”
Photos and videos of the assailant shared online by one of the hostages and verified by Agence France-Presse showed a man – his face hidden by a Palestinian scarf – holding a gun with what appeared to be a suicide vest strapped to his chest.