Militants threaten to kill hostages
An Iraqi militant group today threatened to kill three kidnapped Romanian journalists and an American unless Romanian troops leave Iraq within four days, Al-Jazeera reported, airing a video showing the four captives, held since last month.
The video showed the three Romanians – two men and a woman – sitting cross-legged against a wall with their hands chained. The woman, sitting in the middle – said to be Marie Jeanne Ion – is seen talking but Al-Jazeera did not air the audio.
The footage then shows a man said to be an Iraqi-American translator kidnapped along with the Romanians, sitting alone, hands also bound.
Gunmen stand on either side of him, pointing an automatic rifle and a pistol at his head.
There was no independent confirmation of the tape’s authenticity.
Three Romanian journalists and an Iraq-American who was working as their translator were reportedly kidnapped on March 28 near their Baghdad hotel shortly after interviewing interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.
They appeared a day later in a video aired on Al-Jazeera.
A logo of the “Muadh ibn Jabal Brigades” appears in the latest footage.
The Al-Jazeera anchor said the woman says in the video that their captors gave the Romanian government four days since the date of tape broadcasting to withdraw its forces from Iraq or they will be killed.
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