Jordan Times
Tuesday, July 27, 2004
Militants kidnap 2 citizens in Iraq
Militants kidnap 2 citizens in Iraq
Brother of Deputy Nariman Al Rusan, Marwan, killed in Mosul
By Khalid Dalal with agency dispatches
AMMAN — Two citizens working for a private catering company in Iraq were
kidnapped on Monday and their abductors threatened to kill them after 72 hours
unless the firm pulls-out.
According to a statement by the Foreign Ministry
to the Jordan News Agency, Petra, an armed Iraqi group calling itself the
Mujahedeen (holy fighters) kidnapped the two drivers working for a local private
company registered in Iraq.
“The two drivers, Fayez Saad Al Adwan from the southern Shuneh area and Ahmad
Salameh Hassan, a resident in the Baqaa refugee camp, were kidnapped in the
Iraqi town of Al Qaem, near the Syrian-Iraqi borders,” said the ministry
spokesperson Ali Ayed as quoted by Petra.
Minister of State and Government Spokesperson Asma Khader told The Jordan Times
that the government has immediately started following up on the issue with the
Jordanian diplomatic mission in Iraq and the interim government to hopefully
ensure a safe release of the Jordanian hostages.
President of the Jordan Truck Owners Association Abdul Majeed Habashneh called
yesterday on the abductors to release the drivers “who were there working to
earn their daily bread and not for any other reasons. They have families and
kids to support and so they should return home safe.”
According to news agencies, the kidnappers have threatened to execute the
hostages unless their company, Daoud and Partners, pulls out of Iraq and ceases
all business activities there.
In a videotape obtained by the Associated Press Television News, as reported by
Reuters, the two drivers were seated on a floor, while six armed, masked
militants stood behind them with one brandishing a sword.
Meanwhile, Petra reported yesterday that a Jordanian citizen has been killed in
the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.
According to Ayed, the body of Marwan Zuheir Al Rusan was taken to Baghdad and “
is now on its way to Amman.”
The victim's sister, Deputy Nariman Al Rusan, denied news reports that her
brother was working as a translator, adding that he was a businessman in the
computer and catering fields.
AFP reported that the government was informed of the man's death by his sister,
but there was no immediate information on how he was killed. His relatives were
quoted as saying that the 45-year-old man received several warnings to leave the
country.
The body was expected to be returned to Jordan later yesterday.
Hostage deadline extended
A separate group holding seven foreign truck drivers said it had extended the
deadline for talks to spare them and repeated a demand that their Kuwaiti
employer pull out of Iraq.
The hostages — three Indians, three Kenyans and an Egyptian — were seized last
week.
It was not clear what they now considered to be the deadline, which has already
been extended once. Their firm, the Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport Company, said
on Sunday it had received assurances the captives would be freed.
And Arabic television channel Al Jazeera showed identity cards and video footage
on Monday of what appeared to be two Pakistanis seized in Iraq at the weekend by
a group which threatened to kill them and an Iraqi taken with them.
A senior Egyptian diplomat was also seized on Friday.
Dozens of foreigners have been taken hostage since April. Some have been freed,
but at least six have been killed by their captors, four of them by beheading.
In fresh pressure on US allies, an Internet statement purportedly from a
militant group threatened to attack Italy if it did not withdraw its 2,700
troops from Iraq.
The same website on Saturday carried a statement signed by another group
claiming to be a branch of Al Qaeda in Europe warning Italy and Australia of
“columns of rigged cars” if they did not pull troops out of Iraq.
Australia, with 850 troops in and around Iraq, said it would ignore the threats.
The Philippines withdrew its troops from Iraq this month to spare the life of a
Filipino hostage.
Fresh attacks kill 8
Insurgents killed eight people in Iraq on Monday including a senior interior
ministry official gunned down near his home.
The surge in attacks, including two car bombings, marked a fresh security
challenge to the interim government ahead of a major political gathering
expected this week.
The US military said a suicide car bomb exploded outside an American base near
the northern city of Mosul, killing an Iraqi woman, her child and an Iraqi
guard.
Three US soldiers and two Iraqi security staff were wounded. The military said
the car was packed with mortar shells, but these did not detonate, lessening the
impact.
In Baghdad, gunmen shot Mussab Al Awadi, a top official in charge of tribal
affairs, as he left his house, an interior ministry source said. Two bodyguards
were also killed.
Gunmen also opened fire on five women who work as cleaners for US firm Bechtel
in the southern city of Basra, killing two and wounding two others, one survivor
said. The women were waiting for a bus to take them to work when they were
attacked.
“I pretended to be dead so they didn't shoot me. I was covered in the blood of
my friends,” said an emotional Montaha Khalil, who was unhurt.
Insurgents have stepped up suicide car bombings, assassinations and kidnappings
since a brief lull when the interim government took over from US-led occupiers
on June 28.
Police said no one was hurt in a separate car bombing in Baghdad, which
coincided with several mortar attacks that wounded one person. A bomb also
exploded under a car in Tikrit, north of Baghdad, wounding several people,
police said.
Conference to go ahead
Despite the violence, Iraq has said it will push ahead later this week with a
national conference aiming to give Iraqis a real say in how their country is
run.
The United Nations has pushed for a delay, saying more time is needed to prepare
for an event that will bring together 1,000 Iraqis to select a 100-member
National Council to oversee the interim government until elections next year.
It is due to begin around July 28 and will last two or possibly three days,
officials have said.
Insurgents bent on undermining the interim government have also stepped up their
campaign of hostage-taking to increase pressure on foreign troops and companies
to leave.