Demands made over kidnapped Brits

Source: AFP

Demands made over kidnapped Brits

Sun, 03 Jun 2007

The five Britons kidnapped in Iraq are safe and well but will not be freed unless the Mahdi Army militia's demands are met, The Sunday Times newspaper said, citing a senior Iraqi government source.

Representatives of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Madhi Army have demanded an end to assassination attempts on its leaders, the broadsheet said on its front page.

The militia also want British military patrols in the main southern city of Basra stopped and demanded the release of all Mahdi Army prisoners, including Sheikh Abdul al-Hadi Darraji, Sadr's chief spokesperson who was detained by American troops in January, said the weekly.

Armed men wearing police uniforms abducted the Britons — a consultant and his four armed guards — from a finance ministry building near a Shiite area of Baghdad on Tuesday.

No group has publicly claimed responsibility and Sadr's office has firmly denied any involvement.



Read more: http://iafrica.com/news/specialreport/iraq/928637.htm

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June 3, 2007

Hostage gang in Basra demand
Hala Jaber and Ali Rifat
THE militia believed to have seized five British hostages in Baghdad last week has called for UK forces in southern Iraq to be confined to base.

Representatives of the Mahdi Army of Moqtada al-Sadr, the radical Shi’ite cleric, have demanded an immediate end to patrols in Basra and attempts to kill its leaders, according to one well connected but unconfirmed source.

They are also seeking the release of nine Mahdi officials from British and American custody, including Sheikh Abdul al-Hadi Darraji, Sadr’s chief spokesman, who was detained by US troops in January.

In public statements the Iranian-backed Mahdi Army has denied that it abducted the British computer expert and four security guards captured in an audacious raid on Iraq’s finance ministry last Tuesday.

more:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article1875512.ece