Gunmen kidnapped two members of a Turkish Airlines crew on Friday while the plane was parked in the Lebanese capital of Beirut, according to ABC News. The kidnapped crewmembers were a pilot and a co-pilot, security officials said.
Six gunmen ambushed the vehicle while they were driving on an old road in Beirut. The gunmen snatched the two men, both Turkish nationals, from the vehicle, and the rest were allowed to keep going.
The vehicle was a van traveling to a hotel in Beirut from the Rafik Hariri International Airport. The ambush occurred early in the morning on Friday, said Lebanese officials, who didn't disclose their identity to ABC due to regulations.
No one has claimed responsibility or made any ransom demands for the kidnapping, though the incident is likely related to the civil war occurring in Syria, which has caused deep divisions throughout Lebanon. There are currently nine Lebanese Shiites being held hostage in by Turkey-backed Syrian rebels. They have been held since last year.
The airplane crew landed with 144 passengers on board a Turkish Airlines plane, according to Lebanese officials who spoke to the Associated Press. The were on flight number 828 traveling from Istanbul to Beirut, landing at 3:30 a.m.
The road where the kidnapping occurred has been closed off so that police can investigate, according to officials. There are also several police checkpoints.
The kidnapping was confirmed by Levent Gumrukcu, the spokesman for the Foreign Ministry in Turkey. He also said that the rest of the crew is still in Beirut but is expected to return to Turkey on Friday evening.
"We don't know who did this and for what purpose," Gumrukcu said. He also said the Turkish government is in contact with Lebanese officials to resolve the case.
Turkey has supported the Sunni Muslim rebels that have been fighting to end the regime of President Bashar Assad of Syria, a regime dominated by the Alawites, who are an offshoot of the Shiite sect of Islam. This has caused deep divisions within Lebanon. Shiite's mostly support the current Syrian government, while the Sunnis support the rebels. Sunni militants, as well as fighters from the Shiite Hezbollah group in Lebanon, have both been fighting on opposite sides of the conflict. So far, it has resulted in the deaths of over 1000,000 people since it began in March of 2011, with some fighting falling into Lebanon.
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