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Video of German hostages airs on Arab TV
(AP)
Updated: 2006-01-28 06:29
Two German engineers abducted this week in northern Iraq appealed to the German government to work for their release in a videotape broadcast Friday by an Arab TV station. It was the first sign of the pair since they were seized three days ago.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel addresses a press conference at the chancellery in Berlin. "The lives and the safety of our compatriots is of the highest priority," Merkel said, adding that Germany was working closely with various bodies to secure the release of the two kidnapped German engineers. [AFP] |
The tape showed the two engineers, identified by relatives as Thomas Nitzschke and Rene Braeunlich, seated on the floor with at least four armed men standing behind them.
The timer shown in the corner of the tape, aired by Al-Jazeera television, indicated it was filmed Jan. 24 at 10:08 a.m., less than two hours after the men were abducted in the northern industrial city of Beiji, 155 miles north of Baghdad.
"The (German) government condemns this cruel kidnapping in the strongest possible terms," Chancellor Angela Merkel said after the video was aired. "We appeal urgently to the perpetrators to release our two compatriots without delay."
Elsewhere, violence raged in Baghdad's tense southwestern suburbs as hundreds of police raided homes hunting for insurgents and clashed with more than 30 armed men for several hours. An Associated Press photographer saw the bodies of at least three people, all apparently civilians, who were shot by insurgents, witnesses said.
Also, the governor of the southern city of Basra threatened to stop dealing with British forces unless they release five Iraqi men detained Tuesday, including policemen suspected of links to local killings and kidnappings. Basra is the main base for the roughly 8,000 British forces in Iraq.
Gov. Mohammed al-Waeli called for a mass demonstration Sunday outside the British consulate to demand the release of the five men. Nine others have been freed.
"Basra's provincial council and all government offices will suspend all kinds of dealings with the (British) forces at all levels if they don't release the detainees," al-Waeli told the AP.
Several hours later, a market bombing killed one woman and wounded three others, police said. Witnesses claimed a man stepped out of a police vehicle and planted the bomb.
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