A previously unknown militant group calling itself the Death Squad, released a video on Friday, in which the 18 kidnapped Turkish workers were shown reading their names, where they come from as well as the group's demands. Gunmen seized 18 employees of a major Turkish construction firm on Sept. 2 in the Sadr City area of northern Baghdad where they were working on a football stadium project.Men armed with submachine guns and wearing black uniforms and balaclavas stood behind 18 men said to be the kidnapped Turks in a video posted online.The militants identified themselves as "Furaq al-Mawt," or the Death Squad, in text appearing behind them alongside the words: "We are at your service, O Hussein."One of their demands was that Turkey order rebel forces to stop besieging four Shiite villages, including Foah, Zahra, Kafrayyah and Noubboul, in northern Syria. The villages have been surrounded by the Syrian opposition group Jaish al-Fatah (Army of Conquest).The group also wants Turkey to allow the deliverance of aid for Shiite-based regions in Aleppo and Idlib.In the video, the group also demands cutting the export of oil reserves in northern Iraq through Turkey, along with withdrawal of Turkish military personnel in Iraq. "If [President Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan and his party do not respond, we will crush Turkish interests and their agents in Iraq by the most violent means," the militants said.The group is allegedly linked to Hezbollah in Iraq, indicating the militants are Shiite. This could also potentially be an attempt to mislead the public. The group's origins are not known.In an interview with Anadolu Agency on Sept. 9, Foreign Ministry spokesman Tanju Bilgiç said that Turkey is making every effort to secure the safe release of 18 workers and said that Turkey was monitoring the situation round-the-clock, also urging Iraqi authorities to secure their release as soon as possible.Bilgiç said that Turkeytarget="_blank"'>