Threats to kill hostage

2004-09-14 16:27

Doha - A group calling itself "Squads of Unification Lions" has abducted a Jordanian truck driver in Iraq and threatened to kill him unless his employer pulls out of the country within 48 hours, in a video aired on Al-Jazeera television on Tuesday.

Footage broadcast by the Qatar-based satellite channel showed the purported hostage with three hooded gunmen, and documents identifying him as Turki Khalifah al-Breizat.

The hitherto unknown group said it was "giving the firm employing the Jordanian driver, who admitted to ferrying fuel to the US army, 48 hours to announce it is ceasing operations in Iraq, otherwise they will kill the hostage," Al-Jazeera said.

Dozens of foreigners, many of them truck drivers, have been abducted by militant groups in Iraq seeking to put pressure on their employers or governments to leave the war-torn country.

Three Jordanians taken hostage along with a Sudanese national were released by their abductors on September 6.

Jordan had also secured the release of eight of its citizens kidnapped in Iraq in July and August through mediation efforts and in some cases a ransom was paid by relatives of the hostages in exchange for their freedom.

Some of the abducted foreigners have been killed by their captors.

- AFP