Kidnappers kill Lebanese hostage
Iraqi gunmen kidnapped three Lebanese in Iraq and killed one of them, Lebanese Foreign Ministry officials confirmed today.
One of the three was released and the third remains in captivity, a Foreign Ministry official said.
Hussein Ali Alyan was tortured and killed in “grisly circumstances,” the official said.
The ministry official denied any political motive in the death of Alyan, a Shiite Muslim from southern Lebanon who worked in construction and contracting, but said he was killed by his captors for “financial reasons” and his body was dumped on a road near Baghdad. The official did not elaborate.
In a separate incident, Iraqi gunmen kidnapped two other Lebanese, identified as Habib Samour and Roger Haddad. The official said only that “financial and criminal” motives were behind their capture.
Haddad was released, but Samour was still held by his kidnappers, the official said.
It was not clear if the same Iraqi insurgents were behind the kidnappings.
The Lebanese Foreign Ministry was contacting the Iraqi Foreign Ministry in an attempt to secure Samour’s release, the official said.
In recent months, hundreds of Lebanese businessmen, mainly contractors and industrialists, have gone to Iraq to explore opportunities in Iraq’s post-war massive reconstruction.
