"An American bullet whizzed by Turkish soldier’s head"

Relating how he ran to the door immediately as the Americans broke the locks and entered the premises, Captain Aydin said that when he shouted in English ‘We are Turkish troops here. We have no arms’, a bullet whizzed by his head. He stated that he and the other men were forced to the ground and handcuffed with plastic cuffs. The Americans then pulled plastic bags over the Turks’ heads and nudged them out into the street and onto trucks. Captain Aydin claimed that his cuffs were pulled so tight that one of his wrists is still ringed with thin scabs, and that the men were slapped on the head whenever they attempted to talk.

The Turkish soldiers were flown to a prison in Baghdad on Saturday by a helicopter after interrogation. Captain Aydin said, “Until Sunday [July 6], we were treated as POWs. Once they decided to release us, we got cigarettes, water and more food. They told us they were sorry, but the cuts on my wrist tell me they weren’t sorry."

The U.S. dailies ‘Chicago Tribune’ and ‘San Jose Mercury News’, based on information from American officials, report that the U.S. troops found explosives and weapons in the outpost where the Turkish Special Forces were staying.

aa / New York / USA