The terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) has released a British tourist it kidnapped late on Saturday in the Lice district of the southeastern province of Diyarbakır, the governor announced on Monday. On Saturday night the PKK blocked a road leading to the Diyarbakır-Bingöl Highway and kidnapped a 35-year-old British tourist. The group reportedly set a car on fire and kidnapped the tourist from a bus late on Sunday. The British citizen, whose name was not immediately available, was en route to Trabzon from Diyarbakır. Diyarbakır Governor Mustafa Toprak said the tourist had been taken to a gendarmerie post in the Genç district of Bingöl late on Sunday. He added that an investigation is still under way into the incident. Britain's Foreign Office confirmed the abduction and the subsequent release of the man, but didn't provide his name. Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency, citing police, identified the man as James Masami Miyazaki-Ross. The PKK recently stepped up its campaign of kidnapping civilians, with dozens having been abducted by the group in the past few weeks. The PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the EU, NATO and the United States, has been waging a bloody war in Turkey's Southeast since 1984. More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict. The organization is based in northern Iraq and launches attacks on Turkey from its hideouts in the mountainous region spanning the Iraq-Turkey border. The PKK also operates in various European cities.
