[Gucho]

Iraqi insurgents kidnap two drivers - Arabiya TV

16 May 2005

DUBAI: Iraqi insurgents have kidnapped two drivers, one of whom is Palestinian, and given their foreign employers 24 hours to stop operating in Iraq, Al Arabiya television said on Sunday.


The channel aired a videotape it had received showing the men, described as drivers for an unnamed foreign firm, sitting on the ground as masked men held a large knife and a rifle to the head of one of them.

The nationality of the second man was not given.

The channel said the group had demanded the men's employer stop working in Iraq within 24 hours, or it would use an "iron fist". Banners seen in the video named the group as the Junaid Jihad Squadron and bore Islamic slogans in Arabic.

Iraqi insurgents fighting the US-backed government have often taken foreigners hostage, including some from countries with no connection to the Iraq war. Many have been released but some have been killed.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3282356a12,00.html

[TexKat]

Qaim

Iraqi children play by a destroyed armoured vehicle near Rommana village near Qaim, about 320 kilometers (200 miles) northwest of Baghdad in Iraq Sunday, May 15, 2005. U.S. forces have been engaged in operation Matador in the area, one of the largest U.S. campaigns since militants were driven out of their Fallujah stronghold in November. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Neighbours inspect houses destroyed during fighting in Rommana village near Qaim, about 320 kilometers (200 miles) northwest of Baghdad in Iraq Sunday, May 15, 2005. U.S. forces have been engaged in operation Matador in the area, one of the largest U.S. campaigns since militants were driven out of their Fallujah stronghold in November. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Residents inspect a destroyed armoured vehicle near Rommana village near Qaim, about 320 kilometers (200 miles) northwest of Baghdad in Iraq Sunday, May 15, 2005. U.S. forces have been engaged in operation Matador in the area, one of the largest U.S. campaigns since militants were driven out of their Fallujah stronghold in November. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Neighbours inspect houses destroyed during fighting in Rommana village near Qaim, about 320 kilometers (200 miles) northwest of Baghdad in Iraq Sunday, May 15, 2005. U.S. forces have been engaged in operation Matador in the area, one of the largest U.S. campaigns since militants were driven out of their Fallujah stronghold in November. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)