Turkish hostages freed, firm says
(CNN) -- Iraqi militants have freed 10 employees of a Turkish construction company taken captive in Iraq in last month, the company's general manager says.
The hostages were drivers and mechanics for the Turkish construction firm Vinsan.
They had been working in Baghdad on a $161 million road-building project for the Iraqi government when they were taken hostage in September, General Manger Mehmet Aktinar said Sunday.
They were taken Sunday to a secure place in Iraq, and he will meet with them upon his arrival Monday afternoon in Turkey, he said.
Vinsan froze its operations in the country last month, but Aktinar would neither confirm nor deny a report by the Arabic-language news network Al-Jazeera that the company would withdraw from Iraq.
Aktinar said the hostage takers had asked for nothing in exchange for the release of the workers.
He added that he did not know who the kidnappers are, but did not believe them to be affiliated with the Jordanian mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who is believed to be linked to al Qaeda.
The reported release of the Turkish hostages came as U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld paid a visit to Iraq Sunday.
--CNN Correspondent Alphonso Van Marsh in Taba, Egypt, contributed to this report.
