Iraq head 'works for hostage'

2005-12-01 19:57

Berlin - Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said he would personally work to free a German woman who was kidnapped along with her driver in Iraq last week.

"We want to find out as soon as possible where she is being held so that she can be freed from the violent clutches of the extremists," Talabani told German regional newspaper, the Neue Osnabruecker Zeitung.

German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said it was possible that Susanne Osthoff, a 43-year-old aid worker and trained archaeologist, and her driver were being held by a criminal gang which had no political motives.

"I believe it is a possible, but not definitive, conclusion," Steinmeier told journalists, six days after Osthoff was taken hostage.

Talabani said the kidnapping was the work of terrorists.

"I deeply condemn this terrorist act and would like to express my deepest sympathy and solidarity for the family of those kidnapped.

'Act shows real face of terror'

"This act shows the real face of terror. Germany did not take part in the war and the hostage is not a member of the military," he told the paper.

"The aim of the terrorists is to destroy the reconstruction of the country and the development of democracy in Iraq."

Steinmeier meanwhile said the video released by Osthoff's kidnappers to German television, purportedly showing her and her driver blindfolded and surrounded by armed men, contained no religious symbols and was poorly made.

However, that alone was not enough to conclude that the kidnappers were criminals seeking money, rather than a gang operating with a religious or political motive, he said.

Steinmeier said no contact had yet been made with the kidnappers.

They have threatened to kill the hostages unless Germany stops co-operating with the Iraqi government.

Germany has no troops in Iraq, but trains Iraqi security forces in Germany and the United Arab Emirates.

Experts on terrorism and hostage-taking said in the German press on Thursday that they believed Osthoff was being held by a gang which was seeking a ransom.

"These kidnappers are criminals who are seeking money. Their political demands are just a pretext," Professor Udo Steinbach, from the Institute of the Orient in Hamburg, told Bild newspaper.

"They are hoping to get money from the German government, which in earlier kidnappings was often paid (by other countries)."

He said he rated Osthoff's chances of survival at "50-50".

- AFP