Turkish forces shoot dead ferry hijacker

ISTANBUL (AA) - November 12, 2011- Turkish security forces killed a PKK terrorist who hijacked a ferry with 18 passengers aboard in a pre-dawn operation on Saturday, a Turkish official said. No one else was hurt in the operation. The terrorist hijacked the Kartepe ferry Friday evening around 5:45 p.m., taking hostage the passengers including five women as well as four crew members and two trainees. Istanbul Governor Huseyin Mutlu said the hijacker was shot dead soon after the forces boarded the ferry, adding that there was no fire fight. Mutlu said the terrorist had a device with cables and a push button mechanism, adding that bomb experts were working to identify what kind of a device that was. But Kocaeli Governor Ercan Topca said later that experts found no explosives attached to the device, which he said was fake. Mutlu said the terrorist was a 26-year old man, identifying him as Emrah Kaplan.