Mystery over Iraq Hostages
Gulf Daily News, Bahrain
___________________
Baghdad (Iraq):
Britain, Canada and the US last night sought news of their citizens kidnapped in Iraq as a deadline for their execution passed without word.A militant group called Swords of Truth has been holding four Western aid workers for more than two weeks and had threatened to kill them on Saturday unless thousands of prisoners were released from Iraqi jails.
But last night, despite appeals from across the world for their release, nothing had been heard of the four men.
"We have no further indication of any movement," British Defence Secretary John Reid said in London, adding that the Foreign Office was doing all it could to save the captives.An Iraqi insurgent group claimed the kidnapping of four Iranians on a religious mission to the war-torn country, according to a video shown on the Al Arabiya channel.
"Initial investigation confirmed they were dispatched on an official mission by the hawza (religious authority) in Qom," said the channel's anchorman, reading a statement from a group called the Saad bin Abi Waqas Brigades.
While Iraqi minds have been focused on the trial of Saddam Hussein and Thursday's elections, many in the West have been more concerned with the fate of compatriots held in Iraq.
Dec 12, 2005
Gulf Daily News, Bahrain
___________________
Baghdad (Iraq):
Britain, Canada and the US last night sought news of their citizens kidnapped in Iraq as a deadline for their execution passed without word.A militant group called Swords of Truth has been holding four Western aid workers for more than two weeks and had threatened to kill them on Saturday unless thousands of prisoners were released from Iraqi jails.
But last night, despite appeals from across the world for their release, nothing had been heard of the four men.
"We have no further indication of any movement," British Defence Secretary John Reid said in London, adding that the Foreign Office was doing all it could to save the captives.An Iraqi insurgent group claimed the kidnapping of four Iranians on a religious mission to the war-torn country, according to a video shown on the Al Arabiya channel.
"Initial investigation confirmed they were dispatched on an official mission by the hawza (religious authority) in Qom," said the channel's anchorman, reading a statement from a group called the Saad bin Abi Waqas Brigades.
While Iraqi minds have been focused on the trial of Saddam Hussein and Thursday's elections, many in the West have been more concerned with the fate of compatriots held in Iraq.
Dec 12, 2005
