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Hostages: US will use force
15/04/2004 21:35 - (SA)
Prague - The United States is ready to use force to free foreign hostages in Iraq if their governments agree, Czech news agency CTK quoted US deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage as saying on Thursday.
"Where we have information where the people are, we are willing to conduct a military operation to try to free them.
"But we must realise that those military operations are sometimes dangerous for the hostages," Armitage told CTK from Washington.
"It is the kind of thing we want to talk (about) to the government involved to see if they really want us to move forward," he added.
Three Czech journalists were listed as missing on Sunday in Iraq, where about 40 foreign hostages are believed to have been seized since last week.
The kidnapping campaign turned deadly on Thursday when an Italian hostage was executed by militia, shortly before three Japanese hostages were freed.
No information is known about the whereabouts of the three Czechs - Michael Kubal, Peter Klima and Vit Pohanka.
Armitage said it was "implicit" that the United States would help the Czech Republic, a partner of the US-led coalition in Iraq, to search for its nationals.
"I don't know about a specific request (from) the (Czech) government, but I think it is implicit," he said.
- AFP
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