The family of the killed Turkish hostage in Iraq, Murat Yuce, held on Tuesday a mourning ceremony for him, demanding the capture of those responsible, semi-official Anatolia News Agency reported.

Ferhat Yuce, br other of Murat, was quoted as saying that he heard the news from the television.

Those responsible should be captured, he claimed.

Leyla Yuce, Murat's wife, sobbed out "I hope my husband would have lived. He did not deserve to die. He was not a bad person. Today was his birthday. I want dead body of my husband. I want to see his face once again."

Leyla said her husband phoned her last Thursday, saying he would be in Turkey on Aug. 15 or 16.

The family could not hear from him since then, she said, explaining that her husband went to Iraq to help pay off the family's credit card debts.

Earlier on Monday, Murat, who had been working for a Turkish firm as a driver, was confirmed executed by his kidnappers in Iraq. ��

He was shown on a number of internet sites linked to Arabic groups, reading out a statement calling on Turkish companies to stop operating in Iraq and criticising the United States.

The internet coverage showed Yuce blindfolded and a masked Islamic militant calling out "Allah Akbar" (God is Great). Yuce wasthen shot in the head and twice more after he fell to the ground.

Prior to the shooting, one of the militants, claimed to be affiliated with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian ally of wanted Islamic terrorist Osama bin Laden, read out a statement in Arabic criticising Turkey.

Yuce is the first Turk taken hostage in Iraq to be executed by his captors, while a number of others have been killed in ambushes against vehicle they were driving.

Source: Xinhua