Posted on 07/28/2004 2:25:26 PM PDT by mhking
Militants have executed two Pakistani hostages they were holding in Iraq, says Al-Jazeera television.
The group, calling itself the Islamic Army in Iraq, announced it had kidnapped two Pakistanis working for US forces and had sentenced them to death because their country was discussing sending troops to Iraq.
In a new videotape sent to the station the men said they had carried out their threat, the station reported.
The newsreader said the video showed the corpses of the two men, however the station did not show the footage.
The kidnapped men were identified by Pakistan as engineer Raja Azad, 49, and driver Sajad Naeem, 29.
The group said it had released the Iraqi driver, Omar Khaled Selman, after it was clear he had been duped by the Pakistanis.
The militants released a video showing Selman describing his ordeal.
He said: "After interrogation, they charged us all with all the death penalty, and then they postponed mine and carried out the death penalty for the two Pakistanis because it was clear that they were spies."
"After further interrogation with me, they found out that I was only a driver and they released me,» he said on the video broadcast on Al-Jazeera.
Militants have kidnapped more than 70 foreigners here in recent months in an effort to push countries out of the coalition, deter others from joining and disrupt reconstruction efforts here.
The three men had been gone missing Friday, after a convoy of trucks they were traveling in was attacked.
Pakistan's president and prime minister had appealed for the hostages' release, saying they were poor men just trying to support their families.
The men's families also pleaded for their release in the name of Islam.
Pakistan, an Islamic nation of 150 million people and a member of the U.N. Security Council, has been a key ally of the United States in its war on terror in Afghanistan, but the country's leadership has been less supportive of the US role in Iraq.
In June, Iraqi insurgents kidnapped and threatened to behead another Pakistani, Amjad Hafeez, but he was later freed.
Beheaded ?
Regardless these people are desperate and barbaric.
There's their mistake.
Wish Sky News would have edited the headline better.
For a second there I was hoping that the hostages executed the militants.
*grrr*
Getting back on track here, maybe Pakistan will now hunt the AQ hiding within their borders?
Hello? How many Pakistanis do you think lost their life's by their totalitarian generalissimo over the past decade? I'm sure the general is crushed by this news.
The bright side is the barbaric terror network has been reduced to kidnapping innocent bystanders in their blind rage to get the worlds attention. Not blowing up big hunks of America. Next they'll kidnap innocent poodles under threat of decapitation unless France stops playing nice with the United States. Poor poodles, they never had a chance.
This ought to get the attention of Musharreff!
But our war planners
knew this going in... I wish
someone had worked out
a forceful response
to this madness. It seems like
we're doing nothing.
Don't really have any words for this. Prayers for the families and for the Pakistani leaders that this will harden their resolve to do the right thing. To cave is to ask for more...
2 more Muslims killed by peace-loving Muslims for Allah.
Okay, I vote for every person they behead, we send 20 so-called anti-war patriots to Iraq to be their "friends."
That will show them!
Step away from the light, friend. You are investing way too much time in Hollywood.
Probably the orange jumpsuit crowd. I wonder if the CIA has figured out where the jumpsuits are from.....
I can only assume that you haven't been following the headlines.
Pakistan has in the past refused to look for Taliban and AQ due to the area they're in being 'tribal'.After that, I quit taking them seriously.
Kinda like the Phillipines paying off the terrorists to the tune of 6 million, and then claiming top be dedicated to resisting terror.
I'm in.
Well as long as justice was being served.../sarcasm
Funny -- no mention of the the Human Shields stepping into the fray?
So much for "The Religion of Peace" and their sacred ummah.
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