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BEIJING - China responded to Iraqi insurgents’ demands that it ban Chinese from going to Iraq saying on Friday it had already warned its nationals against travelling there and called for the safe release of eight Chinese hostages. “Before this, the Chinese government had already issued many warnings to its citizens requesting them not to go to Iraq,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday night. “The eight Chinese people were on the way out of Iraq when they were kidnapped. They should be safely released as soon as possible,” it said. In a video seen by Reuters...

BEIJING (Reuters) - Families of eight Chinese labourers being held hostage by militants in Iraq have pleaded for their safe return before a threatened deadline to execute the men, all driven abroad by poverty. Iraqi insurgents on Tuesday threatened to kill the hostages within 48 hours if China, a critic of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, failed to explain why the workers were apparently building facilities for the Americans. Chinese President Hu Jintao has urged officials in Iraq to spare no effort to free the eight and expressed deep concern over their fate. The saga has been splashed over newspaper...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Insurgents in Iraq (news - web sites) threatened on Tuesday to kill eight Chinese hostages as Baghdad officials said they would close land borders and restrict traffic across the country in a bid to thwart attacks during next week's election. A bomb attack on a Shi'ite political party office refreshed fears of sectarian violence by the mostly Sunni insurgents but the swift release of the kidnapped archbishop of Mosul was greeted with relief by the beleaguered Iraqi Christian minority. Beijing, no ally of the United States and a critic of its invasion of Iraq, was drawn into...

Seven Chinese hostages captured in Iraq on Sunday have reportedly been released. China's official Xinhua news agency did not immediately elaborate on the details but said the group had been freed. The seven workers entered Iraq from Jordan early on Sunday and were abducted in the flashpoint city of Fallujah, west of Baghdad. More follows.

The hostage crisis in Iraq has widened, with seven Chinese being seized on the road from Jordan to Baghdad. The latest kidnappings follow the seizure of three Japanese citizens whose fate remains unknown. Despite the hostage-taking, a ceasefire in the Iraqi flashpoint town of Falluja seems to be holding after 24 hours. US Brig Gen Mark Kimmitt said marines remained ready for the "complete destruction of enemy forces" but a political solution was being sought. The tentative truce between American-led forces and insurgents has brought a pause to nearly a week of intense fighting. In pictures Local hospital officials say...

China starts rescue work for hostages in Iraq BEIJING, April 12 (Xinhuanet) -- Chinese leaders are highly concerned with the case of Chinese nationals kidnapped in Iraq, and have instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Chinese Embassy in Baghdad to begin rescue work with utmost efforts for an early release of the seven hostages, the Foreign Ministry said here Monday. Top leaders of the Communist Party of China and the Chinese government made the instructions after they learned of the kidnapping case in Iraq. The seven Chinese nationals were kidnapped by armed men in Fallujah, west of Baghdad on...

Seven Chinese are reportedly the latest civilians to be kidnapped in Iraq. China's official Xinhua news agency said the civilians were taken hostage by armed men in central Iraq. The news follows continuing uncertainty over the future of three Japanese civilians being held hostage and the release of eight foreign men described as truck drivers. Despite the worsening hostage situation, the ceasefire between US troops and insurgents in the flashpoint Iraqi town of Fallujah has been extended. Mediators said the ceasefire would now stand until 6am (GMT) Monday. "We remain optimistic because we still have promises from the two parties,"...

CNN is reporting that 7 Chinese have been taken hostage in Fallujah. Unclear why they were in Fallujah.