Turkey working to save several hostages

"There are citizens we are currently trying to save," Gul told reporters, but he declined to elaborate.

"Speaking very openly and in detail on this issue would mean jeopardizing their lives. And their lives are very important for us," he said.

At least four Turks have been reported missing or kidnapped in Iraq.

On Monday, the employee of a Turkish company which was delivering services to the US army in Iraq, identified as Murat Yuce, was shown on a video on Al-Jazeera television being shot in the head by his kidnappers.

The gruesome tape prompted the company to announce the withdrawal of its personnel from Iraq in a bid to save a second employee, Aytullah Gezmen, who had gone missing together with the slain Yuce.

A union of Turkish transporters also urged its members to halt deliveries to US troops in Iraq, a decision seen as instrumental in winning the release of two truckers who risked execution at the hands of militants thought to be led by suspected Al-Qaeda operative Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi.

The two men, Sait Unurlu and Abdurrahman Demir, returned to Turkey overnight.

Three other truckers -- Tevfik Alkan, Selahattin Turan and an unnamed man -- have been kidnapped in Iraq, according to their employers.

Reuters adds: Four Lebanese truck drivers have been taken hostage in Iraq, a source in Beirut's Foreign Ministry said yesterday.

The source said the four were captured on Thursday on a road outside the capital Baghdad. He had no information about who had taken them hostage or who they worked for.

Another Lebanese man, Antoine Antoun, is also believed to be being held hostage in Iraq. He was kidnapped along with a Syrian driver last Friday, according to his relatives in north Lebanon.