ANKARA, Sept 8 (AFP) - An Iraqi guerrilla group is demanding a 45,000-dollar ransom for Tahsin Top, a Turkish truck driver it is holding hostage, the driver`s wife told Anatolia news agency on Wednesday.
"My husband called Sunday to tell me that the people who were holding him want 45,000 dollars for his release," Fatma Top said.
Top was kidnapped on August 7 on the Tikrit-Mosul road in northern Iraq by a group calling itself "the Abdel Qader al Gilani Brigade", linked to the "Secret Islamic Army."
Turkey`s NTV network reported Top`s release on September 1, but this was never officially confirmed.
The kidnappers had originally threatened to execute Top unless his employers, Atahan Lojistik, ceased all its activities in Iraq. The company has said it has complied with the demand.
Mrs. Top sought government help in paying the ransom, saying: "I don`t have that kind of money and neither does my family."
Atahan Lojistik is also unable to pay the ransom, compnay spokesman Omer Tarhan said.
He confirmed that the company had also received a call from the kidnappers, but said the firm had lost money by halting its Iraq operation and could not afford to pay.
"Our conscience is clear," he added.
Turkey is not part of the coalition in Iraq, but many Turkish firms are involved in construction and transport operations.
Many Turkish drivers have been kidnapped in northern Iraq in the past, but most have been released.
Several were killed during attacks on convoys and one, Murat Yuce, was executed by a bullet to the head in July after being kidnapped by a group believed linked to Al Qaida.