BAGHDAD, 31 July 2004 — India yesterday said it was sending a senior diplomat to Iraq to negotiate the release of three of its nationals held hostage as their captors extended a deadline for their execution by 24 hours.
The unnamed diplomat is “familiar with the region and the language,” said an Indian official, reading out a government statement. “A senior official from the Ministry of External Affairs will be coming to Iraq to assist in efforts to secure the early and safe release of the Indian hostages,” it said. The diplomat will be based at the Indian mission in Baghdad and was expected to leave New Delhi today, an official said.
Earlier, the kidnappers holding the three Indians with three Kenyans and an Egyptian extended by 24 hours to 1500 GMT Saturday a deadline to start executing them. “We have decided to give a last chance to the Kuwaiti company and the relevant countries to save their employees and their nationals,” it said.
The kidnappers have demanded that their employer, Kuwait and Gulf Link transport company, stop operating in Iraq.
An Iraqi tribal leader trying to free the truckers said he would meet a representative from their employer today and expected a “positive outcome” on reaching a deal. Hisham Al-Dulaymi, however, said the main issue was compensation for people killed in US airstrikes on Fallujah.
At least 25 foreigners are currently being held captive or are missing in the country where chaos has reined since last year’s US-led invasion which toppled Saddam Hussein’s regime.
On an unannounced visit to Iraq, US Secretary of State Colin Powell admitted that the wave of kidnappings — some of which have ended in grisly beheadings and also prompted the Philippines to hastily withdraw its troops — were having a “deterring effect” on both the multinational force trying to enforce stability and reconstruction efforts.
“There is nothing romantic about this (kidnapping). There is nothing justified about this. The world must stand united,” said Powell, the most senior US official to visit the strife-torn country since the US-led occupation officially ended late last month.
Powell pledged Washington’s help to the interim Iraqi government in defeating the bloody insurgency. “President (George W.) Bush and his administration and other coalition leaders remain firmly committed to the task ahead: Help the Iraqi government defeat this insurgency and get on with the preparation for elections,” Powell told reporters with Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh by his side.
The hostage-taking has added obstacles to US and Iraqi efforts to broaden multinational forces in the country. Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has called on Muslim nations to send troops. But response has been poor.
Malaysia said yesterday it would not contribute troops to the proposed Muslim force, but would not discourage other Muslim countries from doing so. Malaysia’s Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar made it clear his government would keep its soldiers at home, but repeated its promise to send a medical team when the security situation improved in Iraq.
On Thursday, Indonesia ruled out contributing troops to the Muslim force.
Radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr and Sunni religious elders yesterday opposed such a force. “I advise all countries that want to help Iraq, not to send forces here,” said Sadr in his Friday sermon in Kufa.
In Fallujah, Sheikh Ihsan Al-Duri said he opposed “any Arab or Muslim force in Iraq”. “Such forces could have served before (the occupation) but not now,” he told worshippers at the Rawi Mosque in the flashpoint city.
Abu Mussab Al-Zarqawi’s Tawhid wal Jihad has threatened to attack any Muslim country that sent forces.
Meanwhile, a night of fierce fighting between Marines, backed by fighter aircraft, and insurgents using small arms and mortars in Fallujah killed 13 Iraqis and wounded 14 others. The violence continued into yesterday morning. The US military said the fighting began when insurgents attacked a joint patrol of Marines and Iraqi troops with gunfire, mortars and rocket propelled grenades. The troops responded with gunfire, tank fire and aircraft bombing raids, which hit a building the insurgents had fled to, the military reported.
Twelve auto repair shops and two house were destroyed as a result of the clashes. US Marines said they suffered no casualties.
— Additional input from agencies
