US, UK 'hostage video' surfaces

2004-09-18 16:53

Cairo, Egypt - A video tape surfaced on Saturday purportedly showing a British and two American hostages seized in Iraq, blindfolded and threatened with decapitation in 48 hours unless the United States and Britain free female Iraqi prisoners.

The Arabic television station Al-Jazeera initially received the tape, said to be from militants of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's Tawhid and Jihad group, and aired brief segments of it.

Later, it surfaced in full on a Web site known for its Islamic militant content.

Each man, sitting on the floor wearing a white blindfold, identified himself then said: "My job consists of installing and furnishing camps at Taji base."

Taji, a US base, is 25km north of Baghdad.

They appeared uninjured and sat through most of the 3 1/2 minute video with their heads slightly bowed.

The video was the first word on Americans Jack Hensley and Eugene Armstrong and Briton Kenneth Bigley, who were abducted early Thursday.

Authenticity not verified

The authenticity of the tape could not be verified.

The masked speaker dressed in black and standing behind the men read from a statement that Tawhid and Jihad would kill the men in 48 hours unless the United States and Britain release Iraqi women detained at Abu Ghraib and Umm Qasr prisons.

"God's soldiers from Tawhid and Jihad were able to abduct three infidels of God's enemies in Baghdad - two Americans and a British," the masked speaker read.

"They offer logistic support to American troops in Iraq, as was shown from investigation and the documents seized with them."

Rifle aimed at man

At one point, the rifle of an armed militant pointed downward at the head of the man who identified himself as Hensley.

The masked man accused Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi of enabling "infidel foreigners" to "violate the honor of Muslim women, humiliate people and suck up the riches of the country."

If their demand is not met, the speaker warned, "by the name of God, these three hostages will get nothing from us except their throats slit and necks chopped, so they will serve as an example."

Umm Qasr is in southern Iraq, where British forces are stationed. US forces still have a presence at Abu Ghraib, a prison near Baghdad that was the scene of a scandal involving US soldiers sexually abusing male prisoners.

Lieutenant Colonel Barry Johnson, a US military spokesman in Baghdad, said coalition forces do not hold any women at Abu Ghraib or at Camp Bucca, a US detention facility near Umm Qasr.

"The only females we hold are two high-value detainees, which are kept with the other approximately 100 high-value detainees in a separate, secure location," Johnson said.

- AP