Posted on 04/10/2004 5:55:58 PM PDT by blam
Kidnappers set deadline for killing hostage
By Colin Freeman in Baghdad and Philip Sherwell
(Filed: 11/04/2004)
Iraqi kidnappers paraded an American hostage in a tape shown on Arabic television last night and threatened to execute him unless US forces lift their siege of Fallujah by this morning.
The captive, who was shown seated in front an Iraqi flag, identified himself as Thomas Hamill and said he worked for a private company which had business dealings with the US-led Coalition.
Thomas Hamill on al-Jazeera
If Coalition forces do not end their blockade, "he will be dealt with worse than those who were killed and burned in Fallujah", said a voice on the tape. The man was referring to the gruesome murder and mutilation of four American contractors in the city 11 days ago.
Mr Hamill, who seemed in good condition, said he was the only survivor of an ambush on his convoy, al-Jazeera television reported. The Pentagon said on Friday that several civilian contractors and two US soldiers were missing after a fuel convoy was attacked on the main highway west of Baghdad.
As the rash of kidnappings continued, two teams of armed ex-Special Forces soldiers were sent into Iraq last night on undercover rescue missions to extract British workers from the country. One team was sent to retrieve members of a prominent City law firm, the other to bring out workers from a major British building company.
A group that took three Japanese hostages and threatened to burn them alive if Tokyo did not pull out its forces, told al-Jazeera last night that it would free them today.
But in a third videotape, a previously unknown faction claimed that it was holding 30 foreign hostages and said they would be decapitated if American troops did not end their siege of Fallujah.
"We have Japanese, Bulgarian, Israeli, American, Spanish and Korean hostages," said a masked and armed man. "If America doesn't lift its blockade of Fallujah, their heads will be cut off." He added: "We announce the killing of four soldiers and we have the bodies."
The threats were made as the US-led Coalition proposed a truce to insurgents holed up in the city to allow a 35-member Iraqi negotiation team to enter. Iraqi fighters said they would agree to ceasefire talks if US marines withdrew from the city. But last night, the Coalition said it was sending two extra battalions as reinforcements.
Bodies are littering the streets after six days of clashes that have claimed hundreds of lives. Five fighters from Egypt, Sudan and Syria were among 60 guerrillas detained by US marines. Battles flared in Baghdad as insurgents fought US troops in the Adhamiya district, a Sunni stronghold.
A convoy of US army oil tankers came under rocket-propelled grenade attack in Baghdad's western suburb of Abu Ghraib for the second day running in an apparent rebel attempt to disrupt supply lines to the capital.
A US airman was killed in a mortar attack on a base at Balad, 15 suspected insurgents and five Iraqi policemen died in clashes near Mosul and about 40 Iraqis died in fighting in Baqouba.
In the holy city of Kerbala, however, militiamen loyal to the radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr made their own ceasefire offer to Coalition troops as about one million pilgrims gathered for a Shia festival.
Yes, the release of all hostages and surrender of all terrorists within 12 hours or Fallujah ceases to exist. Period. Do it.
And I agree with your statement in post #1.
Well, since they refuse to rule themselves, such a curse is deservedly theirs.
Bla bla bla. They always say sh1t like this. Kill more of them.
It would be better to set an example for them, and kill the civilians of an entire town, than to let this thing escalate into a world-wide nuclear war.
The thing that bothers me is why Saddam Hussain acted as if he had WMF if he didn't.
I wish we could play war more this way with our little friends.
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