Gunman Frees Hostages at Hotel and Surrenders
A gunman surrendered to police and freed 13 people after holding them hostage for an hour at a luxury Istanbul hotel in an apparent protest against Russia’s military campaigns in Chechnya.
No hostages were harmed in the standoff, which would be the latest in a series of such hijackings and hostage-takings in overwhelmingly Muslim Turkey, where sympathy for the breakaway Russian republic has been strong. Other guests ran in panic from the hotel, where about 550 people were staying. More than 1,000 people were in the building at the time, hotel manager Cem Gundes said.
NTV television identified the gunman as a Turk, Mustafa Yildirim. A brother told NTV that the gunman fought against the Russians in Chechnya in 1997.
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