A peace group blamed the US and Britain yesterday for the abduction of four activists shown in an insurgent video, saying the kidnapping was the direct result of the occupation of Iraq.
Meanwhile, in the central town of Baquba, unidentified gunmen opened fire on a minibus early yesterday, killing nine construction workers and wounding two others, the Diyala police said in a statement.
After a hiatus in the kidnapping of foreigners, TV footage on Tuesday once again showed Westerners held captive: a German archaeologist -- bound and blindfolded -- knelt among masked gunmen in one video and four frightened peace activists were shown in another blurry tape.
PHOTO: AP
The latest attacks are part of a new wave of kidnappings police fear is aimed at disrupting next month's national elections.
Christian Peacemaker Teams, a group that has had activists in Iraq since October 2002, said it was saddened by the video tape of their workers, who the statement said were working against the occupation of Iraq.
"We are angry because what has happened to our teammates is the result of the actions of the US and UK governments due to the illegal attack on Iraq and the continuing occupation and oppression of its people," the group said.
The group listed the names of those abducted as Tom Fox, an American; Norman Kember, from Britain; and James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32, both of Canada.
"We are some of the few internationals left in Iraq who are telling the truth about what is happening to the Iraqi people," the statement said.
"We hope that we can continue to do this work and we pray for the speedy release of our beloved teammates," it added.
On Tuesday, al-Jazeera broadcast video of the four men held by a previously unknown group calling itself the Swords of Righteousness Brigade.
The group claimed they were spies working under the cover of Christian peace activists.
Loney, a community worker, was leading the Christian group's delegation in Iraq.
The tape was shown the same day a TV station displayed a photo of the German hostage, Susanne Osthoff.
The kidnappers threatened to kill Osthoff and her Iraqi driver unless Germany halts all contacts with the Iraqi government.
Osthoff and her driver were kidnapped on Friday.
Germany has ruled out sending troops to Iraq and opposed the US-led war, but has been training Iraqi police and military outside the country.
Iraq was swept by a wave of kidnappings and beheadings of foreigners last year and early this year, but such attacks have dropped off in recent months as many Western groups have left and security precautions for those who remain have tightened.
Insurgents, including al-Qaeda in Iraq, have seized more than 225 people, killing at least 38.
DOUBLE-MURDER CASE: The officer told the dispatcher he would check the locations of the callers, but instead headed to a pizzeria, remaining there for about an hour A New Jersey officer has been charged with misconduct after prosecutors said he did not quickly respond to and properly investigate reports of a shooting that turned out to be a double murder, instead allegedly stopping at an ATM and pizzeria. Franklin Township Police Sergeant Kevin Bollaro was the on-duty officer on the evening of Aug. 1, when police received 911 calls reporting gunshots and screaming in Pittstown, about 96km from Manhattan in central New Jersey, Hunterdon County Prosecutor Renee Robeson’s office said. However, rather than responding immediately, prosecutors said GPS data and surveillance video showed Bollaro drove about 3km
Tens of thousands of people on Saturday took to the streets of Spain’s eastern city of Valencia to mark the first anniversary of floods that killed 229 people and to denounce the handling of the disaster. Demonstrators, many carrying photos of the victims, called on regional government head Carlos Mazon to resign over what they said was the slow response to one of Europe’s deadliest natural disasters in decades. “People are still really angry,” said Rosa Cerros, a 42-year-old government worker who took part with her husband and two young daughters. “Why weren’t people evacuated? Its incomprehensible,” she said. Mazon’s
‘MOTHER’ OF THAILAND: In her glamorous heyday in the 1960s, former Thai queen Sirikit mingled with US presidents and superstars such as Elvis Presley The year-long funeral ceremony of former Thai queen Sirikit started yesterday, with grieving royalists set to salute the procession bringing her body to lie in state at Bangkok’s Grand Palace. Members of the royal family are venerated in Thailand, treated by many as semi-divine figures, and lavished with glowing media coverage and gold-adorned portraits hanging in public spaces and private homes nationwide. Sirikit, the mother of Thai King Vajiralongkorn and widow of the nation’s longest-reigning monarch, died late on Friday at the age of 93. Black-and-white tributes to the royal matriarch are being beamed onto towering digital advertizing billboards, on
SECRETIVE SECT: Tetsuya Yamagami was said to have held a grudge against the Unification Church for bankrupting his family after his mother donated about ￥100m The gunman accused of killing former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe yesterday pleaded guilty, three years after the assassination in broad daylight shocked the world. The slaying forced a reckoning in a nation with little experience of gun violence, and ignited scrutiny of alleged ties between prominent conservative lawmakers and a secretive sect, the Unification Church. “Everything is true,” Tetsuya Yamagami said at a court in the western city of Nara, admitting to murdering the nation’s longest-serving leader in July 2022. The 45-year-old was led into the room by four security officials. When the judge asked him to state his name, Yamagami, who
RSS