"Any harm to our citizens and staff will not be left unanswered. Nobody should test Turkey's strength. Right now we're engaged in calm crisis management, considering our citizens' security. This should not be misunderstood," Ahmet Davutoglu said in New York on Wednesday.

Davutoglu’s remarks came after militants of the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) kidnapped 80 Turkish nationals in northern Iraq.

Turkish special forces, diplomats, and children were among the abductees.

Meanwhile, NATO held an emergency meeting in the Belgian capital Brussels at Turkey’s request.

Earlier on Wednesday, ISIL militants captured 49 people from the Turkish consulate in the city of Mosul.

The Takfiris are also holding 31 Turkish truck drivers captive at a power station in the Gyarah region of the city. The drivers were abducted as they were delivering diesel on Tuesday, officials said.

Early on Tuesday, the militants took control of Nineveh province and provincial capital Mosul, forcing “over 500,000 people in and around the city" to flee, according to Geneva-based International Organization for Migration.

The Takfiris are reportedly launching attacks against the city of Kirkuk.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has said that the country’s security forces would confront the terrorists, calling the seizure of Mosul, Iraq’s second city, a “conspiracy.”

ISIL has already established major footholds throughout north and west Iraq, areas close to the Syrian border. Fallujah, a major city just west of Baghdad and the site of major battles following the US-led invasion in 2003, fell to ISIL months ago.

NTJ/SHI