ANKARA, Aug 6 (AFP) - Turkey is trying to save three of its nationals believed to be held hostage in Iraq and to locate two others who have been reported missing, the foreign ministry said Friday.
"According to the information we have received, there are three of our citizens allegedly held hostage and two others who are reported missing," the ministry said in a statement.
"The resources of our ministry and state have been mobilized, with contributions from some Iraqi circles, to determine the fate of these citizens and rescue them," it added.
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul announced earlier Friday that several Turks were being held hostage in Iraq but gave no figures.
"There are citizens we are currently trying to save," Gul told reporters.
"Speaking very openly and in detail on this issue would mean jeopardizing their lives. And their lives are very important for us," he said.
The foreign ministry statement did not give the identities of the five Turks in question but the names have surfaced elsewhere of at least four Turks thought to be missing or kidnapped.
On Monday an 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 Yuce.
A union of Turkish transporters also urged its members to halt deliveries to US troops in Iraq. That decision was seen as instrumental in winning the release of two truckers who risked execution at the hands of militants in Iraq thought to be led by suspected Al-Qaeda operative Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi.
The two men, Sait Unurlu and Abdurrahman Demir, returned to Turkey on Thursday night.
Three other truckers -- Tevfik Alkan, Selahattin Turan and an unnamed man -- are beingheld captive in Iraq, according to their employers.