Berlin, 4 May (AKI)j - The German government handed over a "large amount" to the kidnappers of two German engineers held hostage in Iraq for over four months and set free on Tuesday, Iraq's ambassador to Germany, Alaa al-Hashimi, has alleged. "Regarding the payment of a ransom, I don't know, but I assume it was a large amount of money," the ambasssador told German's ARD public television network, stressing that the Iraqi government had played part in the men's release. Germany's foreign minister, Franz Walter Steinmeier has refused to divulge any details on the release of Thomas Nitzschke, 28, and Rene Braeunlich, 32, who arrived at the German capital, Berlin's Tegl airport on Wednesday, looking pale and exhausted but apparently in good health. "We are very happy to be alive," said Braeunlich.However, al-Hashimi's claim is likely to trigger further debate on the wisdom of paying for the release of hostages. While the official policy of Britain and the United States is that Western governments should refuse to negotiate with kidnappers, Germany, France and Italy are believed to have paid million dollar sums for the release of kidnapped nationals. It quickly became apparent that a criminal gang that had seized Nitzschke and Braeunlich, who were kidnapped outside their workplace on 24 January near Baji in northern Iraq. At the time of the men's capture, there was speculation that Germans were being targeted, because Berlin, unlike Washington or London, paid ransoms.
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A month before the two engineers were kidnapped, German diplomats admitted the government had paid five million dollars for the freeing from captivity of a German woman working in Iraq, Susanne Osthoff. According to a report by the German weekly magazine Focus, Nitzschke and Braeunlich's kidnappers had demanded a 12 million dollar ransom for their release.
Two German engineers held hostage in Iraq for 99 days have returned to Berlin, one day after being released from captivity. 
Iraq's ambassador to Germany said on Wednesday he believed Berlin paid a hefty ransom to secure the release of two German engineers who were held hostage in Iraq for over three months.
Two German engineers held hostage in Iraq for more than three months have been freed and will fly home on Wednesday. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Germany's foreign minister, said on Tuesday that the two men, who had been abducted on January 24 outside their workplace in the industrial town of Baiji, 180km north of Baghdad, were freed without warning and appeared to be unharmed. "I am very pleased to inform you that the two kidnapped men from Leipzig, 
BERLIN - Kidnappers of two German engineers seized in Iraq 11 weeks ago are seeking a ransom of 12 million dollars, the news magazine Focus reported on Friday. The sum was conveyed to the German Foreign Ministry by Iraqi mediators working to obtain the mens release, the magazine quoted sources in the security services as saying. A Foreign Ministry spokesman declined to comment on the report.
Two German hostages held in Iraq have appeared in a video on the Internet pleading for their lives while their kidnappers vow to punish them unless their demands are met. The kidnappers, a group called 
Nearly half the money funding insurgents comes from outside the country, according to a senior Iraqi official. But officials suggest old sources are drying up and the radical groups are turning to ransom kidnappings - up to 10 a day in Baghdad alone - to finance their guerrilla attacks. Most victims are Iraqis, whose families pay between $3,000 and $50,000 for their release. Virtually none of the kidnappings is reported to the police.
For the insurgents themselves, kidnappings offer a low-risk but high-yield option. Although some kidnappings may be purely criminal, many of them are carried out with such precision that the assailants may have had formal military training. Responsibility is often claimed by previously unknown groups, which the experts believe exist only in name and are meant to conceal the identity of those behind the kidnappers - insurgent groups seeking funding to finance attacks.