New web message about journo

2005-02-11 09:40

Cairo - The purported kidnappers of Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena have issued an internet message indicating her fate depends on Italy's withdrawing its troops from within 48 hours.

The message, which appeared on an Islamic website on Thursday, appeared to cast doubt on the authenticity of an internet message on Monday in which a group by the same name, Jihad Organisation, said Sgrena would be released in the next few days.

"We are giving the Italian government 48 hours to declare its withdrawal from Iraq," the Jihad Organisation said in Thursday's statement, "and this is a condition for an announcement on the fate of the Italian hostage called Guiliana Sgrena."

It was not possible to verify the authenticity of either message. The Italian Foreign Ministry has said it has doubts about all such web statements.

Sgrena, a 56-year-old reporter for the communist daily Il Manifesto, was kidnapped on February 4 near Baghdad University.

"The presence of Italian troops in Iraq will provoke a bloody war and the criminal (Italian Prime Minister Silvio) Berlusconi and his government will never be happy as long as one Italian soldier remains in Iraq," the group said Thursday.

On Monday, a message purportedly from Jihad Organisation said that its "judicial committee" had found that Sgrena was "not involved in spying for the infidels in Iraq" and that she would be released "in the next few days."

Thursday's statement did not refer to this promise, but it said it was advising Muslims everywhere to "be careful of those who send statements here and there concerning the fate of the Italian hostage."

- AP