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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Zarqawi Group Denies Report It Bought Italian Hostages |
| 2004-09-21 |
| A militant group headed by al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al Zarqawi denied on Monday it had bought two Italian women hostages from their Iraqi captors, an Internet statement said. The statement, which could not be immediately verified, was posted a day after Iraq's deputy foreign minister was quoted as saying the kidnappers of charity workers Simona Pari and Simona Torretta had possibly sold them to the Tawhid and Jihad group. "The Tawhid and Jihad group affirms to all that the report that we bought the Italians is a lie," it said. "We urge the brothers and sisters not to be hasty in picking up news." In a television interview, Iraqi Deputy Foreign Minister Hamid al-Bayati said he had received information that the two women had been transferred from western Baghdad to the restive town of Falluja. "From the information at our disposal, they were kidnapped by criminal organizations that could have sold them to members of al-Zarqawi's group," he said, according to Italian state news agency ANSA. The Italians were kidnapped at gunpoint along with two Iraqis in a brazen, daylight attack in the center of Baghdad on Sept. 7. Bayati said he believed the women were being held by the same militants who threatened to kill one British and two American hostages in an Internet video. Tawhid and Jihad said on Saturday it had kidnapped the three Westerners and vowed to kill them by Monday if Iraqi women prisoners were not released. On Monday, the group beheaded one of the hostages and posted the killing on the Internet. |
| Posted by:Destro |