Free Republic

Italian journalist held hostage in Iraq Claire Cozens and agencies Tuesday August 24, 2004 Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni, who has been missing in Iraq since last week, has been kidnapped by militants, according to a video broadcast today on al-Jazeera television station. His driver was found dead at the weekend in Najaf and today an Islamist group said it had abducted an Italian in Iraq, giving Silvio Berlusconi 48 hours to announce it was pulling his troops out of the country.

NAJAF, Iraq -- Militants loyal to firebrand cleric Muqtada al-Sadr said Saturday that they had handed over the keys to a revered Muslim shrine in the holy city of Najaf to top Shiite religious leaders, a move that marks a crucial step toward ending two weeks of fighting. The militants, however, remain in control of the Imam Ali Shrine while final details of the transfer are worked out, said al-Sadr aide Ahmed al-Shaibany. Al-Sadr's militia had moved their guns out the shrine on Friday, but the militiamen themselves stayed as negotiators tried to wrangle over getting the militants out of...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- A French-American journalist was kidnapped Monday in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah, Al-Jazeera television reported. The journalist was reportedly a citizen of both France and the United States, but was not otherwise identified. No other details were immediately available. The report could not immediately be authenticated.

ROME, Aug 16 (AFP) - Italian military officials denied on Monday reports that they had kicked out of their base in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah an American journalist who was kidnapped at the weekend while reporting on archaeological sites in the area. "The journalist was not kicked out of Camp Mittica, the Italian base where he had been staying since early June," Captain Ettore Sarli, spokesman for the Italian contingent in Iraq, was quoted as saying by the Ansa news agency. "The journalist stayed with us until August 11 when he handed back the badge that allowed...