September 30, 2004
By Bruce Johnston in Rome
BAGHDAD, Iraq — The Arab news network Al-Jazeera showed video Thursday of 10 new hostages seized in Iraq by militants.
Al-Jazeera said the 10 — six Iraqis, two Lebanese and two Indonesian women — were taken by The Islamic Army in Iraq. The group has claimed responsibility for seizing two French journalists last month.
The video showed three of the hostages, who were not identified, and two masked gunmen pointing weapons at them. There was no mention of demands by the militants or when or where the hostages were captured.
The network said the 10 were employees of the Jib electricity company.
A Lebanese Foreign Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, later said two Lebanese citizens have been kidnapped in Iraq. It was not immediately possible to confirm if the two Lebanese mentioned by the official were the same as those shown by Al-Jazeera.
Later, another official, who also refused to be identified, said kidnappers in Iraq had released a Lebanese hostage identified as Imad Basila and said he was in good health. It was not immediately clear if he was one of the two Lebanese citizens the Foreign Ministry said had been kidnapped.
Several Lebanese businessmen and truck drivers have been kidnapped in Iraq in recent months. All were released unharmed except for one, Hussein Ali Alyan, a 26-year-old Lebanese construction worker found shot to death June 12. Foreign Ministry officials have said Alyan's kidnappers sought ransom and apparently were not politically motivated.
Hundreds of Lebanese, mainly construction workers and industrialists, have gone to Iraq looking for opportunities in postwar reconstruction.
The French journalists, Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot, disappeared Aug. 20 during a trip to the southern Iraqi city of Najaf. The Islamic Army in Iraq demanded that France revoke a new law banning Islamic head scarves from state schools.
The law went into effect as planned earlier this month. Negotiations for their release are continuing.
More than 140 foreigners have been kidnapped in Iraq by a range of groups, some holding them for ransom while others have set political conditions for their release. At least 26 hostages have been killed.
Seven hostages, including two Italian aid workers, have been released this week.
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