49 Turkish hostages who were held in Mosul by militants of the so-called ’Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’ (ISIL) terrorist group more than 3 months ago have been released early Saturday.

49 Turkish hostages who were held in Mosul by militants of the so-called 'Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant' (ISIL) terrorist group more than 3 months ago have been released early Saturday.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that 49 Turkish hostages who have been held by ISIL in Iraq’s Mosul city have been freed and brought back to Turkey Saturday morning.

“They came to Turkey at 5 a.m. in the morning. We followed the developments closely all night… This happy development prepared us for a beautiful morning…I am very proud to share this happy news”, Turkish PM told cameras in Baku where he was visiting.

Davutoglu said the freed citizens have crossed the border at about 5:00 a.m. Turkish time and they were being taken to southern Turkish city of Sanliurfa and thanked Turkish intelligence agency for the happy development.

Turkish PM Davutoglu also said that he was cutting short his Azerbaijan visit to meet the hostages in Sanliurfa.

49 Turkish citizens - diplomats, consular officials and their families - were kidnapped from the Mosul consulate on June 11, a day after ISIL occupied Iraq's second-largest city.