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More hostages die in Iraq

"[The kidnappers] were not trying to make a political statement, they were purely extortionists."

Said Dashti, chief executive of KGL Transport Co

Iraqi militants said yesterday they had killed three Turkish captives, as France pressed on with diplomatic efforts to win the release of two French journalists held hostage by another guerrilla group.

The Arabic al-Jazeera satellite station said the Tawhid and Jihad group had claimed responsibility for killing the Turks.

Tawhid and Jihad is the group led by Jordanian al-Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Washington's most wanted man in Iraq with a US$25 million price on his head.

Meanwhile, seven foreign truckers held hostage for six weeks were released after their employer paid US$500,000 ransom as France worked frantically to muster the support of Muslims at home and abroad to win the release of two kidnapped French journalists.

Militants waging a violent 16-month insurgency in Iraq have increasingly turned to kidnapping foreigners here in recent months as part of an effort to drive out coalition forces and contractors. Other groups have taken hostages in hopes of extorting ransom, sometimes masking their greed under a cloak of politics.

The group holding the seven truck drivers, which called itself "The Holders of the Black Banners," had demanded their employer stop working in Iraq, that Iraqi detainees be released and that compensation be paid for the victims of fighting in the Iraqi city of Fallujah.

By last week, they had dropped all the other demands and said they just wanted a commitment from the company, Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport Co, to stop working here, which it soon received.

But after the seven men -- one Egyptian, three Indians and three Kenyans -- were released Wednesday and whisked out of the country, the company gave a different version of events, saying the kidnappers had actually demanded US$6 million to US$7 million in ransom.

In the end, a team of employees drove to an unspecified location where the drivers were held and paid US$500,000 -- an immense fortune here -- to secure their release, KGL chief executive officer Said Dashti said.

"They [the kidnappers] were not trying to make a political statement, they were purely extortionists," he said.

The announcement the men were freed sparked celebrations in their home countries.

In a bizarre video given to news agencies soon after the release, the seven hostages are shown standing against a wall as a masked man shakes each man's hand, hugs him and hands him a Koran, another Islamic book and what appears to be a CD or cassette.

Also see stories:
Al-Qaeda not relying on Osama bin Laden's cash
US air strikes slam Fallujah, kill at least 17 Iraqis
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