IS Releases 49 Turkish Hostages

Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the 49 Turkish citizens, who were seized by Islamic State militants in the north Iraqi city of Mosul in June, were freed and safely returned to Turkey early Saturday.

"Today at 5 am we brought our citizens who were detained in Iraq to our country. From my heart, I thank the families who maintained their dignity," Davutoglu said on his Twitter account, further thanking Turkey's MIT intelligence agency, Al Jazeera reports.

Around 32 Turkish truck drivers who were also seized in Mosul June 6 were released in July. However, Turkey hadnot provided any information on their release.

But, this was Turkey's most serious hostage crisis as it concerned diplomatic staff who were seized from the consulate June 11 when the IS fighters captured Mosul and raided the Turkish Consulate there.

According to the Associated Press, the hostages included Consul General Ozturk Yilmaz, other diplomats, children and special police forces, ABC News reports.

Davutoglu was speaking during a visit to Baku, Azerbaijan, and informed that he would be meeting the hostages in the province of Sanliurfa, near Turkey's border with Syria, where the Turkish Intelligence Agency stationed them.

Turkey had refused direct involvement in the international military campaign against IS militants mostly because it feared that the Jihadist fighters might harm the hostages, BBC reports.

The United States has carried out more than 170 air strikes against the Islamic State in Iraq since mid-August and is now planning on expanding the operation.

French jets carried out their first strikes Friday, hitting an IS depot in north-eastern Iraq.