在线国产一区二区_成人黄色片在线观看_国产成人免费_日韩精品免费在线视频_亚洲精品美女久久_欧美一级免费在线观看

  Home>News Center>World
         
 

8 Russians Kidnapped in Iraq, Japanese still missing
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-04-13 14:46

Eight Russian civilians were the latest foreigners kidnapped in Iraq and three Japanese were still missing on Tuesday, but China's official Xinhua news agency said seven Chinese had been freed.

Three of the seven Chinese nationals released Monday April 12, 2004. [AP]
The conflicting news on the fate of foreign hostages reflected the turmoil in Iraq, where U.S. forces have fought fierce battles with Sunni and Shi'ite guerrillas in the bloodiest violence since the fall of Saddam Hussein a year ago.

The kidnappings of the past week have added a new dimension to the fighting in Iraq, snaring civilians from at least a dozen countries -- some of which, like Russia and China, opposed the U.S.-led war that ousted Saddam.

Russia confirmed on Tuesday that eight of its nationals working for an energy company had been taken hostage in Iraq.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said on Tuesday the government still did not have a clear outlook on the situation of three Japanese civilians kidnapped in Iraq.

Some guerrillas have sought international publicity for their hostage-taking to demand that their captives' governments withdraw troops from the U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq.

The group holding the Japanese said last week it would burn them alive unless Japan pulled out its troops, while another has threatened to kill American Thomas Hamill if U.S. forces do not stop fighting Sunni guerrillas in Falluja, west of Baghdad.

U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney appealed on Tuesday to a divided Japanese public, in shock over the kidnappings, to get behind the U.S.-backed mission there at a difficult time.

"We understand what is at stake... The world shares your outrage today at the barbaric kidnapping... and stands with you in your determination to bring your people home safe," Cheney said in a speech at a symposium on Japan-U.S. relations.


A Television image aired April 12, 2004 by Arabic television Al Jazeera shows Chinese hostages released to an Iraqi Sunni Muslim clerical body which then handed them over to Chinese diplomats. [Reuters]
The U.S. military said a total of seven American civilian contractors, as well as two U.S. soldiers, were missing. The contractors worked for U.S. company Kellogg, Brown & Root and went missing after an attack on a U.S. fuel convoy on Friday.

RUSSIANS REPORTED KIDNAPPED AFTER SHOOTOUT

Al Jazeera reported the Russians were kidnapped in Baghdad after a shootout between their Iraqi guards and the abductors.

Russia, which opposed U.S.-led military operations in Iraq and has refused to contribute any forces to the U.S.-led coalition there, has about 600 specialists working in Iraq, mainly in the oil sector.

"I confirm... that eight employees of Interenergoservis company in Baghdad have been kidnapped," foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko said in televised comments.

Three Czech reporters were also reported missing on Monday.

Xinhua said the freed Chinese were kidnapped in Falluja on Sunday and two of them had been slightly injured in an accident.

Al Jazeera aired footage of the Chinese hostages, released to a Sunni clerical organization and then handed over to Chinese diplomats. The seven were from China's southeastern coastal province of Fujian. The oldest was 49 and the youngest 18.

Japan has been on tenterhooks since kidnappers released a video on Thursday showing the three Japanese captives blindfolded and with guns to their heads.

The Kyodo news agency quoted a self-proclaimed mediator working for the release of three as saying the kidnappers had agreed not to kill them.

Muzhir al-Duleimi, head of the previously unknown League for the Defense of the Rights of the Iraqi People, had contacted the kidnappers and been told the "health conditions of the three hostages are good," the agency said.

But Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi, asked by reporters about the outlook for the hostage situation, said: "We still do not have (one)." Asked how the government would negotiate with the militant group holding them, Koizumi said it was working to verify various pieces of information.

A British contractor who had been held for six days was released on Sunday. A masked man said on a video tape on Sunday that eight other hostages -- three Pakistanis, two Turks, an Indian, a Nepalese and a Filipino -- had also been freed. No independent confirmation was available.

Last week, gunmen kidnapped seven South Korean evangelical church pastors but freed them the same day.

 
  Today's Top News     Top World News
 

New policy eases one-child restrictions

 

   
 

Seven Chinese kidnapped in Iraq are freed

 

   
 

Expert: China's economy to grow by 9%

 

   
 

Official: China a main victim of CD piracy

 

   
 

Beijing reaffirms stand against independence

 

   
 

One woman's torturous passage to America

 

   
  8 Russians Kidnapped in Iraq, Japanese still missing
   
  Sharon details more of withdrawal plan
   
  Shiite cleric pulls back Iraqi militias
   
  Stampede for sarees kills at least 21 Indian women
   
  Russia says private Mars mission 'nonsense'
   
  Booming business is bad for health
   
 
  Go to Another Section  
 
 
  Story Tools  
   
  Related Stories  
   
Shiite cleric pulls back Iraqi militias
   
11 Russians seized, Chinese freed
   
Iraqis start hostage-taking as new policy for resistance
   
Fragile cease-fire holds in Fallujah
   
Japan denies report of hostages release
  News Talk  
  3 Japanese taken hostage in Iraq  
Advertisement
         
主站蜘蛛池模板: 欧美在线日韩 | 中文字幕中文字幕 | 国产欧美在线 | 黄色小视频免费观看 | 91l九色lporny | 亚洲天堂网在线观看 | aaa免费视频| 色网站在线观看 | 欧美日韩大片 | 欧美中文字幕 | 亚洲欧美另类在线观看 | 久久草视频 | 婷婷久久五月 | 夜夜操网站 | 手机av在线 | 毛片在线观看视频 | 日韩特黄 | 狠狠干免费视频 | 日本免费黄色 | 欧美久久网 | 91精品91久久久中77777 | 人人澡人人爽 | 色中色综合 | 午夜精品久久久久久久久久久久 | 成人免费毛片嘿嘿连载视频 | 91在线一区二区 | 国产在线观看不卡 | 少妇一级淫片 | 国产精品自拍第一页 | 五月天激情综合 | 中文字幕一区二区三区四区视频 | 国产欧美日韩综合 | 久久久久久久久国产精品 | 成人免费视频观看视频 | a级片在线| 狠狠操天天操 | 欧美999| 日韩国产精品一区二区 | 国产另类xxxxhd高清 | 日本一区二区三区精品 | 久久亚洲成人 |