Posted on 08/04/2004 5:35:46 AM PDT by blam
Six hostages freed in Iraq
August 04 2004 at 11:23AM
By Suleiman al-Khalidi
Amman - Militants in Iraq freed four Jordanian and two Turkish drivers after taking them hostage to put pressure on their companies to stop working in the country, relatives and media said on Wednesday.
The four Jordanians, who were freed in the Iraqi town of Fallujah on Tuesday night, will be handed over to Jordanian diplomats in Baghdad later on Wednesday, relatives said.
"They are now staying in the home of Haji Ibrahim Mohammad in the town of Fallujah. They spent the night in his house after their release on Tuesday by their kidnappers," said Mohammad Hassan Abu Jafaar, the brother of Ahmad Hassan Abu Jafaar, one of the four drivers seized nine days ago.
Al Jazeera television reported that a militant group linked to al-Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had released two Turkish drivers it was holding hostage because their companies had agreed to stop working in Iraq.
"Due to the Turkish firm's decision to stop sending supplies to United States forces in Iraq, the Tawhid and Jihad Group has decided to free the two Turkish hostages," said a videotaped statement from the group broadcast on the Arabic-language channel.
In Amman, a government source confirmed the release of the four Jordanians and said local mediators were making preparations for their handover to embassy officials in Baghdad.
Maher Sinoqrut, brother of freed hostage Ahmad Sinoqrut, 26, credited tribal leaders and local elders, who were asked by Jordan to act as mediators, for securing their release.
Maher said his brother had telephoned him on Tuesday night to say he had been freed and was in good health.
A group calling itself the Death Squad of Iraqi Resistance said last Thursday it was holding the Jordanians to put pressure on their transport company to stop cooperation with US forces in Iraq. It also urged Arabs to pressure on governments to end support for the US-led forces.
The kidnappers were reported to have been pleased by a sit-in organised by the relatives urging pro-US ally Jordan to end support for the US military campaign in Iraq and praising anti-American insurgents.
Relatives said the kidnappers had decided to free the four after establishing they had not been carrying goods for US troops.
The men were taken hostage in the past week after their convoy was ambushed near Fallujah, a hotbed of resistance to coalition forces. They were carrying shoes and knitting machines imported by an Iraqi firm from the United Arab Emirates.
The two Turkish drivers, Abdulrahman Demir and Said Unurlu, had been threatened with beheading if their employer refused to meet the kidnappers' demands.
On Sunday, the haulage firms Kahramanli and Oztur, which employed the men, said they were prepared to suspend operations in Iraq to secure their release.
Militants in Iraq have waged a campaign of kidnapping aimed at driving out companies and troops supporting US forces and the new Iraqi interim administration.
Scores of hostages have been kidnapped by armed groups in Iraq. Some have been freed, but nine, including at least one Turk, have been killed by Tawhid and Jihad and other groups.
"[They] were freed in the Iraqi town of Fallujah..."
Are all these people being held hostage in Fallujah? And we still haven't flattened the joint? Ok, you can't FLATTEN it with hostages inside, but somebody tell me what the heck is our plan? Do we even have one? Are we even attempting to find hostages and/or hostage takers? This is making me insane. What's the frequency, Kenneth?!?!?!?!
Well we definitely are not going to broadcast to the entire world what the "plan" is on this forum...
"Loose lips sink ships"
Semper Fi,
Kelly
From http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20040804.whosta0804/BNStory/Front/
An Iraqi tribal chief in the turbulent city of Fallujah led a raid that freed four Jordanian hostages kidnapped a week ago, the chief said Wednesday...Sheik Haj Ibrahim Jassam said he received word on Tuesday evening that four kidnapped Jordanians were being held in a house on the edge of the city of Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad...."I called upon my brothers and tribesmen to free the hostages, so we raided the house last night," Mr. Jassam told The Associated Press. Good to see Iraqis taking ownership of thier problems.
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