Spain denies hostage story
2004-04-08 11:18
Madrid - The Spanish military contingent deployed in Iraq "categorically" denied Thursday that any of its soldiers had been taken hostage by militiamen loyal to outlawed Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr.
"There is nothing new" to report about the Spanish contingent in the central Iraqi city of Najaf, a spokesperson for the Plus Ultra brigade force there told Spanish news agency Europa Press.
He denied the claim made earlier by a Sadr spokesman in Baghdad that both Spanish hostages and possibly an American were being held in exchange for one of the pro-Sadr leaders.
"We hold coalition hostages, most of them Spaniards, and possibly a US soldier, whom we want to swap against Mustafa al-Yaacubi", said Amar al-Husseini, a spokesman for Sadr in Baghdad's Shiite bastion of Sadr City.
In Madrid, the Spanish foreign ministry refused to confirm or deny the claim. "We do not confirm the information", it said.
- AFP