Bangladeshis among 60 abducted by Iraqi militants

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry says its embassy in Baghdad is looking into reports that jihadist insurgents have abducted 60 foreign construction workers, including Turks and Bangladeshis, near the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk. Ankara-based private news agency ‘Dogan’ said on Wednesday that militants of Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) abducted the group from near Kirkuk, where they were building a hospital. Among the 60 abductees, 15 are Turkish workers, it said. The rest are from Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Turkmenistan. The agency based its report on an unnamed worker who was reportedly freed by the Iraqi Islamists. The Foreign Ministry could not immediately confirm the report but said its embassy was investigating. Last week, militants from the al-Qaida inspired group seized 49 people from the Turkish consulate in Mosul, a city where fighting is still going on between the militants and the government troops, according to a news agency.