Insurgents in Iraq have reportedly kidnapped 48 Turks. The group of people, including three children and several members of Turkey’s special forces, were taken from the Turkish consulate in Mosul.

Turkish authorities have confirmed nobody in the group has been harmed.

Al-Qaeda offshoot the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) seized the country’s second-biggest city on Tuesday. Mosul is an important strategic location for ISIL: it is located on routes linking Iraq to Turkey and Syria.

Half a million people have fled towards the Kurdish city of Erbil to the north of Mosul.

Turkey’s interior minister Efkan Ala said that his country would react with “appropriate measures” to the news.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has held an emergency meeting to discuss the latest developments.