Kidnappers of German hostages
in Iraq set deadline
AFP
BERLIN
Petroleumworld.com 02 01 06
The kidnappers of two German hostages in Iraq on Tuesday gave
the German government a 72-hour deadline to meet their demand
that it sever ties with Baghdad, public television said.
The deadline was contained in a second video on the hostage-taking
which was aired by Qatar's Al-Jazeera television network, ZDF
television said.
The German network did not show any of the footage but said it
wanted to have a close look at the video before deciding on whether
to air it.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said last week that the life of
the two engineers, who were abducted on January 24, was "of
the highest priority" for her government and called on their
kidnappers to release them immediately.
"The German government condemns this cruel kidnapping in
the strongest terms," Merkel had said in a statement to journalists.
She said her government was working closely with the relevant
bodies in Germany and Iraq to attempt to secure their release.
In a first video which had also been shown by Al-Jazeera the kidnappers
asked Germany to immediately pull out its embassy from Iraq, halt
all cooperation with the Iraqi government and help free women
detained in Iraqi prisons.
In the video, the two Germans, Rene Braeunlich and Thomas Nitzschke,
were filmed with armed masked men standing behind them. The two
engineers spoke but could not be heard. Al-Jazeera said they called
on their government to do everything it could for their release.
The kidnappers claim to belong to a group calling itself Ansar
al-Tawheed wal Sunnah (Followers of Unity and Prophetic Tradition).
The engineers, who worked for German gas equipment installation
company Cryotec, were snatched near the Baiji oil refinery compound
by armed men in military uniform.
AFP
01/31/06
Copyright
© 2006 AFP. All rights reserved
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