Dubai - Arabic satellite channel Al-Jazeera aired a tape on Sunday showing what it said were two Russian hostages seized in Iraq last week and being held by an Iraqi Islamic group.
"A statement from a group calling itself the Army of the Victorious Sect (Jaish al-Ta'ifa al-Mansoura) called on countries taking part in the 'criminal project' to withdraw their citizens before it was too late," Jazeera said.
In the video footage the men look in good health, chatting with other men in a room. One is drinking out of a bowl.
"The kidnappers said they were the Russians who work in a power plant in al-Dora, south of Baghdad," Al Jazeera said.
Continues Below ↓
Two Russians were seized on May 10. Their employer, Interenergoservis, which is involved in a power plant project just outside Baghdad, was quoted on Wednesday as saying they are alive and well but their whereabouts unknown.
Iraq has been rocked by a series of foreigner kidnappings, as well as relevations of US abuse of Iraqi prisoners and persistent anti-coalition violence.
On April 13, television footage showed a group calling itself the Mujahideen Brigades with four Italian hostages and demanding the withdrawal of Italian troops.
One hostage, Fabrizio Quattrocchi, was killed and a video showing the beheading of an American Nicholas Berg was posted last week to an Islamist web site.
Canadian Mohammed Rifat was kidnapped on April 8.
|
StumbleUpon
Reddit
Digg
Delicious
Newsvine
Facebook
muti
Twitter
