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Videotape: We will kill journo
13/08/2004 10:20 - (SA)
Basra - The Reuters news agency has said it has received a videotape showing a hostage and a hooded man threatening to kill a journalist unless the United States-led assault on Shiite militia in Najaf is stopped in 24 hours.
A British journalist was abducted by gunmen from his hotel in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, according to the hotel's management.
About 20 masked gunmen, some wearing police uniform, stormed into the Al-Diyafa hotel at about 23:00 and demanded the receptionist showed them the guest book, said a hotel employee, who wished to remain anonymous.
"One of them then said 'how dare you have foreigners in your hotel' and then they stormed upstairs," said the employee.
"He was bleeding"
"We then heard two shots and minutes later they were dragging the British journalist down and he was bleeding."
Another hotel employee at the front desk said the journalist was registered as "James Andrew working for the Sunday Telegraph."
Reuters' bureau in Baghdad said the journalist was shown on the tape shirtless with a white bandage around his head.
"US forces must pull out of Najaf in 24 hours or we will kill the Briton," warned a hooded man on the tape, according to Reuters.
Britain's Foreign Office confirmed on Friday that a British national had been kidnapped in Basra.
"We are not saying any more until we have contacted the person's family," a Foreign Office spokesperson said.
The incident comes one day after a shadowy Shiite group calling itself Abu al-Abbas warned that it would kill all those co-operating with British troops in apparent retaliation for the US-led attacks on Najaf to the north.
"We will kill everyone working with British troops including contractors, interpreters and others," said a statement from the group.
It was not immediately clear if the group had any links to the Mehdi Army militia of radical cleric Moqtada Sadr holding out in Najaf.
An AFP correspondent in Basra said he met with the British journalist on Wednesday afternoon shortly after he arrived from Baghdad.
Demonstration against US-led assault
"He told me he wanted to work on the Mehdi Army and oil topics and asked for my help," said Nawfal Hashim.
"We chatted for about half-an-hour at the hotel lobby."
Hashim said he heard again from the journalist on Thursday by telephone to inquire about a demonstration that day against the US-led assault on Najaf.
Two British soldiers were killed in Basra over the past week in clashes with Sadr's militia, who have threatened to attack the area's vital oil infrastructure if the fighting was not stopped in Najaf.
- AFP
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