ANKARA, Turkey, Nov. 12 (UPI) -- A man described as a terrorist who hijacked a Turkish ferry with 24 people aboard was killed in a raid Saturday by security forces, a government official said.
The hijacking began around 5 p.m. Friday when the captain of the passenger ferry was taken hostage on the Marmara Sea, about 50 miles east of Istanbul.
Ercan Topaca, the governor of Kocaeli province, told a CNN affiliate the hijacker issued demands via the ship's captain.
"I am in touch with the captain, but the captain has to say what the hijacker tells him to say. He can't say anything else," Topaca said.
The ferry ran out of fuel and was idle when navy commandos and anti-terror forces stormed it around 5 a.m., The Daily Telegraph reported.
The hijacker was killed without returning fire and security forces determined the devices the man was wearing weren't real explosives, the report said.
Istanbul provincial Gov. Huseyin Avni Mutlu told reporters it was clearly a terrorist attack.
"From the contacts we made with the assailant, it was clear that he was a terror group member," the governor said.
The Cihan news agency reported the hijacker was working for the Kurdistan Workers Party, designated a terror group by the United States, but that hadn't been confirmed Saturday.
