BAGHDAD/AMMAN, 30 July 2004 — A day after executing two Pakistanis, Iraqi insurgents yesterday kidnapped five more foreigners and threatened to behead one of a group of seven hostages today.
Four more Jordanian drivers were taken hostage by a group calling itself “Death Squad of Mujahedeen of Iraq”. The four were shown on a videotape aired by Dubai Television, visibly nervous and sweating as they held up their passports and identity cards.
“We urge our people in Jordan to exert pressure by all means in order to put an end to the Jordanian government’s support for the US occupation forces,” the statement said.
Only two of the hostages’ names were clear enough to be read on their IDs, identifying them as Khaled Ahmed Ibrahim Saeed and Hassan Youssif.
The four were in addition to the two Jordanian drivers kidnapped Monday and named as Ahmed Salameh Hussein and Fayez Saad Al-Adwan.
Another group holding seven foreign drivers hostage threatened to “slaughter” one of them today if there was no answer to their demands, showing an Indian captive wearing orange clothing to make their point.
In a videotape given to international news organizations, the guerrillas did not say which hostage among three Indians, three Kenyans and one Egyptian they were threatening to kill by 7 p.m. today (1500 GMT Friday).
But the footage showed a masked man pointing an M-16 automatic rifle at the head of one of the Indian hostages. The hostage, Antaryami from the northern state of Himachal Pradesh, sat on the floor, sweating and looking very afraid.
The seven truck drivers work for the Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport company. The kidnappers have demanded that the firm stop doing business in Iraq.
In a statement addressed to the kidnappers, the firm appealed for more time for talks.
“We have already been negotiating with you for the past seven or eight days through our Iraqi true friends, and we will continue negotiating with you through them or through any other channel that you choose,” the statement said. “And we confirm once more... that we don’t have any operations in Iraq.”
The seven are being held by the “Holders of the Black Banners”. On the tape, a voice said the Kuwaiti firm and embassies had ignored “humanitarian” efforts by a mediator to free the men.
“The Egyptian people should understand this message, and at least do as the people of the Philippines did,” said the voice.
“In the same way, the lack of sincerity of the Indian government with its people is far from the way of Gandhi in realizing peace and rejecting occupation, so we have decided that these are fighters supporting the infidel in transporting supplies to them.”
Family members of the three Kenyan hostages broke down in tears after hearing of the new deadline.
Also yesterday, a Somali driver was seized by a militant group linked to Al-Qaeda ally Abu Mussab Al-Zarqawi and threatened with beheading unless his Kuwaiti employer stopped operating in Iraq. Al-Jazeera TV identified the hostage as Ali Ahmed Moussa.
The developments came a day after kidnappers executed two Pakistanis — Sajid Naeem, 29, and Azad Hussein Khan, 49.
Meanwhile, a major political conference to chart Iraq’s path to democracy has been postponed for two weeks after pressure from the United Nations, raising concerns that elections planned for early next year might also be delayed.
