Asian civilians kidnapped in Iraq

[Questioninggeller]

Iraqi Insurgents Reportedly Kidnap 11 Foreigners

By Lee Keath
The Associated Press
Thursday, April 8, 2004; 9:36 AM


BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Eight South Koreans and three Japanese were kidnapped by insurgents in Iraq, and captors armed with automatic rifles and swords threatened Thursday to burn the Japanese alive if Tokyo did not withdraw from the U.S.-led coalition.

The Arabic TV station Al-Jazeera, broadcasting to Iraq and the rest of the Arab world, showed portions of a tape from a previously unknown group calling itself the "Mujahedeen Squadrons" showing the Japanese blindfolded and surrounded by gunmen. It also shows their passports.

Associated Press Television News obtained a copy of the full tape, which also shows four armed, masked men pointing knives and swords at the captives' chests and throats.

The South Koreans, believed to be Christian ministers who left for Iraq on April 5, were detained by unidentified "armed men" but one escaped, a Foreign Ministry official in Seoul told AP, speaking on condition of anonymity.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60607-2004Apr8.html

[Tesserat]

This is a very ugly strategy. I heard on the CBC today that a Canadian had been captured as a hostage as well. I think we're going to see a lot of this.

[demon]

quote:

Iraqi group to free Japanese hostages

An Iraqi group which said it kidnapped three Japanese hostages has said it will release them within 24 hours, abandoning a threat to kill them.


In a fax sent to Aljazeera on Saturday, the group, Saraya al-Mujahidin said they will release the hostages in response to a call from Iraq's Muslim Clerics Association.

The group also called on the Japanese people to pressure their government to withdraw its troops from Iraq.

Aljazeera on Thursday aired a tape from the group showing the hostages in capture. The group earlier threatened to burn alive Noriaki Imai, 18; Soichiro Koriyama, 32; Nahoko Tokato, 34, if Japan did not withdraw troops from Iraq by a deadline on Sunday.

Imai graduated from high school last month. He is a member of the Campaign to Abolish Depleted Uranium and travelled to Iraq on 1 April to study the effects of depleted uranium on Iraqi children.

Koriyama is a former soldier turned freelance photojournalist.

Takato, is an aid worker and peace activist. She travelled to Iraq in April 2003, after US and British tanks entered Baghdad.

American hostage

Also on Saturday, Aljazeera channel aired a videotape showing a US detainee kidnapped by a group called Mujahideen during an attack on a US convoy transporting supplies and fuel on the Baghdad-Falluja highway on Friday.

The captive said he is American and his name is Thomas Hamil and working for a private company supporting the military operation.

He said he was the only member of the US convoy's rescued. He also said his captors treated him well and offered him a complete care.

"Up to now your prisoner is being dealt with in the tolerant
manner specified by Islamic law. Our one request is to break the siege of the city of the mosques (Falluja) during the 12 hours from six o'clock on Saturday evening," said the group in a tape aired by Aljazeera.

"If not he will be dealt with worse that those who were
killed and burned in Falluja," the voice added in the tape.


http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/75D2F232-7F1B-4909-9F9E-B8C41B0E93D0.htm

[The idea]

Originally posted by demon
quote:

Iraqi group to free Japanese hostages

An Iraqi group which said it kidnapped three Japanese hostages has said it will release them within 24 hours, abandoning a threat to kill them.

In other words, either there is no Japanese election scheduled for the near future or the leaders of that particular Iraqi group do not belong to Mensa.

[The idea]

Here is some context. The following message was posted today and not, to my knowledge, retracted by its author:

Originally posted by demon
The Iraqi resistance has smart leaders, they know the effect of returning body bags on US public opinion in an election year.

[Mr Manifesto]

Originally posted by demon
quote:

Iraqi group to free Japanese hostages

An Iraqi group which said it kidnapped three Japanese hostages has said it will release them within 24 hours, abandoning a threat to kill them.



Yaay!

One of them was actually there to monitor the effects of DU rounds. Talk about not knowing who your friends are...

[demon]

Mr Manifesto:
"Yaay!

One of them was actually there to monitor the effects of DU rounds. Talk about not knowing who your friends are..."

As I said, the Iraqi`s have smart leaders, they must have found this out:D
Apparently the release is at the request of the Clerics association. Let`s wait and see who gets the credit. Will the American press acknowledge the Iraqis as anything other than savages?

[Kopji]

The kidnapping and mistreatment of relief workers would be a real stroke of genius for the Iraqi's. :rolleyes: These would be played over and over when the systematic bombing of Mosques began.

btw - There are no body bags being shown in any news report in the US. If the Iraqis are counting on this to sway public opinion they are being terribly misled. Media is not allowed to cover returning dead. We have seen more Spanish soldiers returned in body bags than Americans. We saw more soldier's bodies returned from Vietnam this year than Iraq...

[shuize]

Still waiting.