In Baghdad a group of gunmen in military uniforms have kidnapped 18 Turkish workers from a sports stadium they were in the process of building.

The workers, who were employed at the Nurol Insaat construction company, were taken around 3 a.m on Wednesday. As quoted by Reuters, Ugur Dogan, the chief executive of Nurol Holding, which owns the construction company, stated that, "People dressed in military uniforms broke down the door at 3 a.m. (midnight GMT) and abducted all these people."

Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman Brigadier General Saad Maan said that the kidnapped workers were taken in the predominantly Shi'ite district of Habibiya.

The Turkish government did not provide much information but did state the kidnappers singled out Turkish workers.

As reported by the Voice of America, the kidnappers have so far not been identified and their motives remain a mystery.

In 2014, Islamic State militants seized 49 Turkish hostages from Turkey's consulate in Mosul. They held the hostages (a group made up of diplomats, soldiers and children) for over three months before finally releasing them.

Turkey has recently joined the fight against ISIS (ISIL).

On Saturday, Turkey launched its first airstrikes against the group in Syria as part of the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic militants. Peter Cook, a Pentagon spokesman, praised Turkey for joining the fight.

As reported in CNN, Cook said, "We commend Turkey for its participation in counter-ISIL air operations alongside other Coalition nations in the international campaign to degrade and ultimately defeat ISIL."

Diplomats have warned that Turkey, a nation that had been reluctant to launch airstrikes against the Islamic State in the neighboring nation of Syria, could suffer repercussion once they join the fight against ISIS.

Turkey's new willingness to fight ISIS comes after much international pressure and an attack last month by an alleged ISIS suicide bomber in the Turkish town of Suruc. The attack killed 34 people.