6.1 Day to day kidnappings
- The Shiites took 13 hostages on April 8, 2004 but they soon released seven
South Korean Christian missionaries. Among those kept prisoners are three
Japanese citizens, two men and a woman -an aid worker, a cameraman and an
depleted uranium expert- that were shown on television being threatened with
rifles and knifes. Their captors, members of the Saraya al-Mujahideen (Mujahideen
Brigades) threatened to kill them -bury them alive- if the Japanese government
does not pull back it more than 500 soldiers out of Iraq within three days.
The Japanese Prime Minister refused to submit Japan to such a horrible blackmail.
Among the hostages there are also two Palestinians with Israeli passports.
A Canadian and a Briton are missing, probably kept hostage too.
- Mohammed Rifat, of Canada. Prison worker. Abducted April 8.
- On April 9, 2004, six more people of unknown nationality were taken hostages
by the Sunnis near Baghdad. It is believed that some are Italians and two
others British or Americans. The Shia already hold at least five hostages,
two Palestinians and three Japanese's. The Japanese could be burned to death
on April 11 as their government refuses to pull the Japanese soldiers out
of Iraq in order to save them.
- Thousands of people took to the streets in Tokyo on April 9, 2004, to demand
the immediate withdrawal of the Japanese soldiers from Iraq to save the life
of the three hostages held by the Shia. However the Japanese government confirmed
that they would not submit to the blackmail. On April 10, 2004, the insurgents
in Falluja said that 30 hostages are in their hands including some Israelis,
Americans and Spaniards. They threatened to kill them if the coalition forces
do not pull out of the city. An American hostage, Thomas Hamill, was shown
on the al-Jazeera television.
- On April 11, 2004, a British civilian, Gary Teeley, who was kidnapped in
Nassiriya was released unharmed. It also seems that eight other hostages were
also let free (two Turks, three Pakistani among them) but this information
was not confirmed. One American contractor and three Japanese are still held
but the bodies of two dead westerners were shown on Arabic television, possibly
two Germans working as private security guards.
- On April 12, 2004, the latest victims are 11 Russians kidnapped in Baghdad.
They were released on April 13. Russia is sending planes to Iraq to evacuate
its 513 citizens and 263 citizens from the ex-soviet republics. There is no
news of the three Japanese taken prisoners a few days ago but seven Chinese
were released. The British hostage, Gary Teeley, released on April 11, described
his stay in captivity by the Shiites in Nassiriya as mental torture. Many
times he feared for his life.
- On April 14, 2004, there were about 40 foreigners of twelve countries held
hostage in Iraq.
- A French television journalist, Alexander Jordanov, was freed on April 14,
2004.
- On the other hand two US soldiers and seven employees of Kellogg, Brown
and Root, a Halliburton subsidiary, are missing after their convoy was attacked
west of Baghdad.
- by Ansar al-Sunnah Army The body of the Danish businessman, Henrik Frandsen,
kidnapped 10 days before was found dead and identified on April 21, 2004.
- On April 30, 2004, the two Japanese men who were held hostages for about
nine days, spoke well of their captors calling them soldiers, not terrorists,
and resistance fighters defending their country against the USA. They said
that they were treated relatively well most of the time.
- An American hostage, Thomas Hamill, escaped his Iraqi on May 2, 2004, in
the vicinity of Tikrit. He is in good health and wants to go back to work
for Halliburton. He was captured on April 9 during an attack on a supply convoy.
The eight other people in the convoy are dead or missing.
- Aban Elias, 41, Iraqi-American. Seized May 3, 2004, by a group calling itself
the Islamic Rage Brigade.
- On May 11, 2004, an American contractor, Nick Berg, held hostage in Iraq
was beheaded by Islamic militants (supposedly by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi from
al-Qaida) and the execution was recorded on video and shown on an Islamic
website. It was presented as a revenge for the treatment and abuse of the
Iraqi prisoners in the prisons under American control.
- On May 16, 2004, the Arabic television al-Jazeera aired a videotape showing
two Russian hostages taken the week before by a group calling itself "The
Army of the Victorious Sect". The group told coalition countries to withdraw
their citizens "before it was too late!
- Together with the three Italian hostages, a Polish businessman, Jerzy Kos,
was also free on June 8, 2004.
- A South Korean civilian was taken hostage on June 17 in Falluja and his
captors - from the Jama'at al-Tawhid and Jihad group- said that they would
soon kill him if Seoul does not pull back its 600 soldiers out of Iraq. The
South Korean government refused to do it. The television network al-Jazeera
showed Kim Sun-il making a plea for his life and asking his government to
accept his captors' requests. Unfortunately his militant Islamic captors beheaded
him on June 22 as the South Korean refused to pullout their troops from Iraq.
- On June 27, 2004, another hostage was also in the hands of the Iraqi insurgents.
He is believed to be a Pakistani, Amjad, and his captors also said that he
would be beheaded within three days if Iraqi prisoners were not released before.
Three Turks have been taken hostage on June 25 and they face a similar end
if Turkey does not pull out all its companies working in Iraq. The Turkish
government has already refused to do it. The three Turkish hostages were freed
on June 29. Their captors justified their release because there had been a
big protest in Istanbul against George Bush.
- On June 28, 2004, Iraqi militants reportedly shot dead an American soldier,
Keith Maupin, taken as hostage in April because the US refused to withdraw
from Iraq according to the al-Jazeera television. The US military authorities
could not immediately confirm the killing.
- On July 2, 2004, the Islamic militants released three more hostages, two
Turks and a Pakistani. The Turks were released because their firm agreed to
cancel their contract with the US military. Several more hostages are still
held captive including an US Marine.
- On July 7, 2004, al-Jazeera television said that a Philippino working in
Iraq for a Saudi Arabian company associated to the American forces was captured
by a rebel group. They threatened to kill him in three days unless Philippine
withdraw its 50 soldiers from the country. An Iraqi security guard captured
at the same time had already been killed according to the television broadcast.
- There was some hope for two Bulgarian truck drivers held hostage on July
11, 2004, as they were still alive after a Friday night execution deadline
set by their kidnappers expired.
- On July 9, 2004, militants in Iraq also held hostages two Bulgarians under
death threat. Kidnappings have increased pressure on interim Prime Minister
Iyad Allawi's government that is trying to assert its authority after taking
over from US-led occupiers on June 28. It is still heavily dependent for security
on 160,000 mainly American troops.
- On July 10, 2004, a group loyal to insurgency leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
threatened to kill the two Bulgarians if the US military did not release all
Iraqi detainees within 24 hours. Bulgaria has a 480-member infantry unit in
Iraq that is under Polish command in the city of Karbala. Its main duties
are patrolling the center of the city and guarding public buildings. President
Bush received assurances that Bulgaria's troop commitment in the country remains
strong despite threats by insurgents to kill two Bulgarians held hostages.
- On July 13, 2004, the group led by the Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
has executed one of the Bulgarian hostages, Georgi Lazov, a lorry driver.
He is the fifth hostage executed in Iraq. According to a message the second
Bulgarian will also be killed if Iraqi detainees were not liberated.
- On July 13, 2004, another militant group holding an Egyptian hostage said
that he would be executed within 72 hours if the firm he works for does not
pull out of Iraq. The Egyptian truck driver held captive for two weeks by
insurgents in Iraq was freed on July 19, 2004.
- On July 14, 2004, Bulgaria said that it would keep its troops in Iraq just
hours after the beheading of a Bulgarian civilian, but admitted it was powerless
in face of a threat to kill a second hostage by the end of the day.
- On July 14, 2004, the Philippine government said it has begun pulling its
troops out of Iraq to save the life of a Filipino hostage. Eight members of
the 51-strong contingent of soldiers and police doing reconstruction work
in Iraq have already left.
- On July 15, 2004, a headless body was found in the Tigris River north of
Baghdad. It could be the corpse of the Bulgarian hostage decapitated by his
captors a few days ago. On July 16, diplomats in Baghdad said a headless corpse
found in the Tigris River was probably that of a Bulgarian hostage killed
by militants linked to al Qaida ally Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi. Hopes of finding
a second Bulgarian alive were fading.
- Insurgents belonging to an Iraqi group calling itself the Holders of the
Black Banners said on July 21, 2004, that they had kidnapped six more foreign
hostages -three Indians, two Kenyans and an Egyptian-, and threatened to behead
one every 72 hours unless their employer, identified as a Kuwaiti company,
closed down operations in Iraq.
- Ibrahim Khamis, Salm Faiz Khamis and Jalal Awadh of Kenya; Antaryami, Tilak
Raj and Sukdev Singh of India; Mohammed Ali Sanad of Egypt, truck drivers
abducted July 21, 2004. Militants threatened to behead them if Kuwaiti employer
keeps doing business in Iraq and their countries do not withdraw citizens.
- On July 22, 2004, the Iraqi police found a decapitated body and a head of
a westerner, probably the second Bulgarian truck driver hostage. The corpse
was found in Beiji, north of Baghdad.
- On July 23, 2004, kidnappers seized an Egyptian diplomat, Muhammad Mamdouh
Qutb, in Iraq and the Egyptian embassy confirmed the news. A videotape was
broadcast on the Al-Jazeera Arab television network showing the captive, named
as Kotb, sitting in front of six masked armed men dressed head-to-toe in black
with white bandanas around their foreheads. A group called the Lions of Allah
kidnapped him. The diplomat was released on July 26.
- On July 23, 2004, Kenya ordered its citizens to leave Iraq after kidnappers
threatened to kill three Kenyan hostages. It is unclear how many Kenyan citizens
are in Iraq.
- Raad Adnan, Iraqi general director of government-owned Al-Mansour Contracting
Co. was kidnapped July 24.
- On July 24, 2004, India's foreign minister Natwar Singh said the government
was doing its best to secure the safe release of three Indians held captive
by militants in Iraq as the crisis entered its fourth day. The Iraqi group
Black Flags is holding them -Tilak Raj, Sukhdev Singh and Antaryami- along
with three Kenyans and an Egyptian. The militants demand that the Kuwait-based
transport firm for which the men worked wind up its operations in Iraq or
they would behead the men one by one.
- On July 25, 2004, the tension increased in Iraq after the captors threatened
to start beheading seven captives unless their Kuwait-based trucking company
cease operations in Iraq. The kidnappers of the seven truckers seized last
week had originally set a deadline for Saturday, at which time they would
start killing them. But a 48-hour extension was announced by the "Holders
of the Black Banners" group on Al-Jazeera late Friday.
- On July 25, 2004, the Kuwaiti employer of seven foreign hostages in Iraq
said they had assurances that the captives would be freed. Company officials
were in talk with the kidnappers of three Kenyans, three Indians and one Egyptian
via Iraqi mediators. The company was willing to do whatever it took to secure
their freedom.
- On July 25, 2004. Two Pakistani citizens were reported kidnapped in Iraq.
Iraq's interim government said Sunday that it had begun investigating the
disappearance of two Pakistanis disappearance. Pakistani foreign ministry
spokesman Masood Khan told AFP in Islamabad that the two latest hostages identified
as engineer Raja Azad and truck-driver Sajjad Naeem had gone missing on Friday.
- On July 26, 2004, a video showed that four more foreign lorry drivers -two
Pakistanis and two Jordanians- as well as an Iraqi were taken hostage. The
two Pakistanis were reported to have been beheaded on July 28 but the Iraqi
was released.
- Aytullah Gezmen, of Turkey, kidnapped July 27 or 28 worked for Bilintur,
a Turkish company providing laundry service for Jordanian firm in Iraq.
- On July 27. 2004, the Jordanian company Daoud and Partners working for the
US military decided to withdraw from Iraq, complying with demands of kidnappers
threatening to kill two employees, Fayez Saad al-Udwan and Mohammad Ahmed
Salama al-Manaya'a. The Amman-based firm provided construction and catering
services for the military.
- Ali Ahmed Moussa, Somali truck driver. In video aired July 29, insurgents
threaten to kill him if Kuwaiti employer doesn't leave Iraq.
- Vlada Abu Ghadi, Lebanese director of Lara construction company. Abducted
July 31 in Baghdad.
- On August 2, 2004, Turkish lorry owners decided to stop deliveries of goods
to the US forces across the border with Iraq to obtain the liberation of two
Turkish lorry drivers kept hostage. Turkish drivers are doing about 2,000
trips to Iraq every day and between 200 and 300 are bringing supplies such
as petrol and jet fuel to the US troops.
- On August 7, 2004, the employers of a Turkish driver taken as hostage in
Iraq have agreed to stop operating in the country, hoping to save his life.
One week ago another Turkish driver hostage was shot dead by his captors.
- Faridoun Jihani, Iranian consul to Karbala. In video made public August
7, kidnappers accuse Iran of meddling in Iraq's affairs.
- On August 10, Five men kidnapped in Iraq, two Jordanians (and Mohammad Ahmed
Salama al-Manaya'a) and three Lebanese (Kassem Murqbawi, Antoine Antoun and
another have been released.
- Mustafa Koksal and Durmus Kumdereli, Turkish truck drivers, kidnapped August
14 outside Mosul after delivering water to US base in Baghdad.
- On August 11, 2004, officials have confirmed that a body found in the Tigris
River was that of a Bulgarian hostage. Ivaylo Kepov, a 32-year-old driver,
was identified through DNA analysis. Militants loyal to the Jordanian-born
al-Qaida suspect Abu Musab al-Zarqawi kidnapped Mr Kepov and his colleague,
Georgi Lazov, 30, at the end of June in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.
Mr Lazov's body was also found in the Tigris.
- On August 15, 2004 militants claiming are holding an Iranian diplomat hostage
in Iraq; they demand the return of 500 prisoners they say are kept in Iran
after the 1980-88 war.
- On August 15, 2004, a British journalist taken hostage by masked gunmen
in Iraq says he was subjected to a series of mock executions during his ordeal.
James Brandon also said he managed to escape from his kidnappers, only to
be captured again shortly afterwards.
- The worsening security situation in Iraq worries the Indian government as
it continues its efforts on August 18, 2004, to secure the release of three
Indians held by a militant group there since July 21.
- On August 24, 2004, the Islamic group, The Iraqi Mujahedin Islamic Movement,
announced that it was freeing kidnapped Lebanese trucker Mohammed Raad.
- Abdullah Ozdemir and Ali Daskin, Jordanian construction workers were kidnapped
on August 25, 2004, from a construction site. Militants threatened to kill
them if their companies did not leave Iraq within three days. Hours later,
the companies announced they were pulling out.
- Twelve Nepalese workers, kidnapped August 23, 2004, while working for Jordan-based
construction company.
- On August 26, 2004, two Turkish companies, Usluel and SA-RA, began withdrawing
their staff from Iraq hours after militants holding two of their workers threatened
to behead the men if the firms did not pull out. The two men, Abdullah Ozdemir
and Ali Daskin, were kidnapped from a construction site in Iraq.
- Two Turkish hostages were released in Iraq Sunday August 29, 2004, and are
now safe at the Turkish Embassy in Baghdad. Ali Daskin and Abdullah Ozdemir,
are engineers who were kidnapped from a construction site in Iraq.
- On August 31, 2004, Nepal was plunged into mourning by reports that 12 of
its citizens had been brutally murdered by kidnappers in Iraq. A group calling
itself the Army of Ansar al-Sunna claimed to have killed 12 Nepalese workers.
Pictures showing a decapitation and a hooded captor holding up a bloodied
head as a trophy accompanied the statement. The others are believed to have
been shot.
- On September 1, 2004, kidnappers released seven Indian, Kenyan, and Egyptian
workers, one day after another group posted video showing the slayings of
12 Nepalese hostages. The Kuwaiti firm which employed the seven truckers said
they were on their way to the Gulf state. The chairman of the Kuwait and Gulf
Link Transport Company (KGL) which employed the drivers, Saeed Dashti, said
the firm had paid over $500,000 ransom for their release. Two French journalists
taken hostage last month remained in captivity as French and Iraqi officials
and clerics pleaded for their release.
- On September 2, 2004, militants killed three Turkish hostages in a campaign
to wreck reconstruction efforts and undermine the interim government. The
French newspaper "Le Figaro" said that the two French journalists
held in Iraq had been turned over to a new militant group, prompting some
suggestions they would be freed soon. The bodies of two Turks taken hostage
in Iraq, and a third unidentified man, have been found at a remote farm in
the north of the country on September 3.
- On September 5, 2004, kidnappers in Iraq have released the Turkish driver,
Mr Civi, a day after his employers said they were pulling out of the country
to secure his freedom. Meanwhile, France says it is hopeful the kidnap ordeal
of two French journalists may be nearing an end.
- On September 2004, three Indian truck drivers freed after six weeks in captivity
in Iraq were greeted by cheering crowds and tearful relatives in their villages.
They said on arrival that they had been well treated by their captors.
- On September 5, 2004, two employers of a Turkish truck driver taken hostage
in Iraq have agreed to pull out of the country following a threat by his captors
to behead him. Edip Rende of the Renay International Transport Company said
that the Turkish company would suspend operations in Iraq and urged Ankara
to help secure the release of the driver, identified by Turkish media as Mithat
Civi.
- On September 10, 2004, five kidnappings were reported. In Najaf, four police
officers were taken hostage, and in Baghdad, a police officer was abducted.
Police think the Baghdad kidnapping and the recent abduction of two female
Italian aid workers might have been conducted by the same people. The kidnappers
in both incidents wore Iraqi National Guard uniforms and used similar vehicles.
- On September 13, 2004, a video posted on a Web site in the name of a group
of militants led by Jordanian-born terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi showed the
execution of a Turkish hostage. The victim identifies himself as Durmus Kumdereli
and says in Turkish that he was transporting goods to an American military
base. In another hostage drama, Italy's foreign minister traveled to neighboring
Kuwait for a Middle East visit designed to win the release of two Italian
women kidnapped in Iraq. Foreign Minister Franco Frattini appealed for a "civilized
dialogue" between religions as he stood inside Kuwait's Grand Mosque.
- A group calling itself the 'Horror Brigades of the Islamic Secret Army'
says it has captured two Australians, along with two Asians, on the highway
from Baghdad to the main northern city of Mosul on September 13, 2004. The
group, which has been involved in previous kidnappings of foreigners, has
given Prime Minister John Howard 24 hours to end Australia's involvement in
Iraq or the hostages will be executed. The claim has been made in a statement
issued by the group in the town of Samarra, which is a stronghold for Sunni
Muslim insurgents in north central Iraq. However, Foreign Minister Alexander
Downer says all of the Australians working in Iraq have been accounted for.
- On September 15, 2004, a Turkish translator held hostage by Iraqi kidnappers
since July has been freed. The translator was released following Turkish protests
over an American offensive in the city of Tal Afar. At the same time, two
more truck drivers from Turkey were kidnapped near the Iraqi town of Tikrit.
- Kidnappers released a Jordanian truck driver, Turki Simer Khalifeh al-Breizat,
Thursday September 16, 2004, after his company declared it would stop working
in Iraq. The truck driver's release came soon after militants freed a Turkish
hostage. The driver's employer - Ibrahim Abul-Sheeh al-Zubi's Transport Company
- declared Wednesday that it had ceased operating in Iraq in an effort to
win al-Breizat's release. The driver was abducted while transporting supplies
to American forces. At least 12 Jordanians have been abducted since the US-led
invasion of Iraq in March 2003; many of them have been executed.
- Three Lebanese travel agency workers, Fadi Munir Yassin, Cherbal Karam Haj
and Aram Nalbandian, and their Iraqi driver were kidnapped September 17, 2004,
on the road between Baghdad and Falluja.
- On September 18, 2004, a militant group in Iraq claimed it is holding 10
hostages working for an American-Turkish company in a tape broadcast by the
pan-Arab station Al-Jazeera. The previously unknown group, calling itself
the "Salafist Bridages of Abu Baqr Al-Siddiq," gave an ultimatum
of three days for the company to leave Iraq or it will kill the 10 hostages.
The group identified the company as American-Turkish, operating in Iraq, but
did not give a name. About 120 foreigners have been kidnapped in Iraq, and
many have been killed by their captors.
- The Turkish Embassy in Baghdad said Sunday September 19, 2004, that 10 employees
of a US-Turkish company were kidnapped in Iraq. Arabic-language television
news network Al-Jazeera broadcast video Saturday showing kidnappers who threatened
to kill the 10 hostages if their company does not withdraw from Iraq within
three days.
- Al-Jazeera also broadcast video Sunday September 19, 2004, from a previously
unknown group that said it had captured 15 members of the Iraqi National Guard.
The group -calling itself Mohammed ben Abdullah- gave the authorities 48 hours
to release Hazem al-Aaraji, an aide to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr
who was detained Saturday night during a raid on his home in Baghdad.
- An Islamist militant Web site posted a video Sunday September 19, 2004,
showing the decapitation of three members of the Kurdish Democratic Party
(KDP). In the video, a group calling itself Ansar al-Sunna -the same group
that released video last month showing the purported killings of 12 Nepalese
hostages- said that members of the KDP and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan
(PUK) were traitors serving "Zionists" and "Christian crusaders"
fighting against Islam. The video statement said the three men, all truck
drivers, were captured as they were hauling military vehicles near the town
of Taji, about 24 kilometers north of Baghdad.
- On September 20, 2004, Mr.Zarqawi's Iraq-based group, Tawhid and Jihad,
claims responsibility for beheading hostages and kidnappings two Americans
and a Briton last week.
- A Turkish construction company announced Tuesday September 21, 2004, that
it was halting operations in Iraq in a bid to save the lives of 10 employees
kidnapped by militants. The state TRT television reported the body of a Turk,
identified as Akar Besir, was found early Tuesday near Mosul. The report said
Besir was employed as a driver for a firm working for the US military and
was kidnapped on Saturday.
- Earlier Tuesday September 21, 2004, Tahsin Top, a Turkish hostage in Iraq
whose company withdrew from Iraq was released by his kidnappers. Top had been
abducted north of Baghdad on August 5 by kidnappers who threatened to behead
him if his Turkish employer did not withdraw from Iraq. Top's company, Atahan
Lojistik International, later withdrew from Iraq. The kidnappers then demanded
$45,000 for Top's release.
- On September 22, 2004, the headless body of the second American hostage
executed this week by militants loyal to Jordanian terrorist Musab al-Zarqawi
was found and identified today. The militant group still holds one British
citizen. The group is demanding the release of all women held in Iraqi prisons.
The US-led coalition has said there are only two women being held in Iraqi
jails, both of whom were researchers in chemical and biological weapons programs
under former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. US officials said neither would
be released, though some Iraqi officials indicated they would be released
in the coming days.
- On September 23, 2004, armed men have kidnapped two Egyptians from their
office in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, the third such abduction in less than
three weeks. Police said the attackers tied up the guards and abducted the
men, who work for a mobile telephone company. More than 100 foreigners have
been kidnapped in Iraq since March 2003. Most have been freed, but at least
27 have been killed by their kidnappers. Many Iraqis have also been taken
hostage - in most cases for ransom.
- On Friday September 24, 2004, kidnappers seized six Egyptians working for
Iraq's mobile phone company in separate incidents. The men were all working
for Iraquna Mobile Net. Two were kidnapped in Baghdad, while the others were
seized outside the capital. It was not clear if the kidnappings were politically
motivated.
- An Iranian diplomat was freed in Iraq on September 27, 2004, after a 55-day
hostage ordeal at the hands of the same Islamic militants holding two French
newsmen.
- The Iranian diplomat freed after a 55-day ordeal as a hostage in Iraq returned
home on September 29, 2004; the Islamic republic reiterating that no deal
had been made with his kidnappers. Iran confirmed that Jahani had been held
by a group calling itself the Islamic Army of Iraq. Jahani went missing on
August 4 on the road from Baghdad to the Shiite pilgrimage city of Karbala,
where he had been appointed to open an Iranian consulate.
- On September 30, 2004, an Iraqi militant group said it had kidnapped 10
people, including two Indonesian women.
- The Arab news network Al-Jazeera showed video Thursday September 30, 2004,
of 10 new hostages seized in Iraq by militants. The six Iraqis, two Lebanese,
and two Indonesian women were taken by The Islamic Army in Iraq. The video
showed three of the hostages, who were not identified, and two masked gunmen
pointing weapons at them. There was no mention of demands by the militants
or when or where the hostages were captured. The network said the 10 were
employees of the Jib electricity company. The same day kidnappers in Iraq
released a Lebanese hostage identified as Imad Basila; he was in good health.
Several Lebanese businessmen and truck drivers have been kidnapped in Iraq
in recent months. All were released unharmed except for one, Hussein Ali Alyan,
a 26-year-old Lebanese construction worker found shot to death June 12. Hundreds
of Lebanese, mainly construction workers and industrialists, have gone to
Iraq looking for opportunities in postwar reconstruction.
- Pope John Paul II denounced kidnappers for using human beings as bargaining
chips, and said Saturday October 2, 2004, that journalists were paying a heavy
price in their work during conflicts.
- On October 4, 2004, an Iraqi group has released two Indonesian women captives
who were handed over to the United Arab Emirates' embassy in Baghdad.
- In the latest hostage developments, kidnappers freed two Indonesian women
on October 5, 2004, but a separate militant group claimed to have killed a
Turkish man and a longtime Iraqi resident of Italy.
- Kidnappers struck again on Saturday October 9, 2004, seizing a Turkish truck
driver identified as Halil Oglu and wounding his colleague near Beiji, 112
miles north of Baghdad.
- An Islamist group in Iraq announced Sunday October 10, 2004, it had released
10 Turkish hostages after their company pulled out of the country; there was
no immediate confirmation.
- On October 11, 2004, armed men claiming to belong to the militant group
of Iraq`s most wanted man Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi appeared in a video threatening
to behead a Turkish hostage, while another militant group posted a video on
the Internet of the beheading of a purported Turkish contractor and a Kurdish
translator accused of working with US troops.
- An Islamic Web site on Monday October 11, 2004, showed the beheading of
two hostages -one a Turkish contractor and the other an Iraqi Kurdish translator,
Luqman Hussein, wearing a badge of the Titan security company. A written statement
appearing on the video showing the beheadings accused the Kurdish translator
of participating in raids with US troops in the Ramadi area. A second statement
claimed the Turkish contractor was working for the Americans at an air base
north of the capital. The two were killed by the Ansar al-Sunnah Army, which
also claimed responsibility for slaughtering 12 Nepalese workers and three
Iraqi Kurds on August 31. Also Monday, the Arabic language television station
Al-Arabiya broadcast a video showing three hooded gunmen threatening to behead
another Turkish hostage within three days unless the Americans release all
Iraqi prisoners and all Turks leave Iraq.
- On October 13, 2004, we were told that American rescue teams tried at least
twice to free two US citizens and a Briton taken hostage in Iraq and later
killed. Eugene Armstrong and Jack Hensley were killed soon after their abduction
on 16 September while British man Kenneth Bigley was beheaded last week. Rescuers
acting on intelligence reports reportedly went to two sites in Baghdad but
on both occasions found nothing.
- On October 18, 2004, a group calling itself the Islamic Army in Iraq has
said it executed two Macedonian men it accused of spying for US forces.
- After Monday's news of the death of two Macedonians, the Macedonian Foreign
Ministry Spokesman said on Tuesday October 19, 2004, that the ministry was
working on the return of 19 Macedonians working there. Macedonia has 32 troops
stationed in north of Baghdad. In addition, there are hundred Macedonian citizens
working in Iraq for foreign companies.
- Charbel Hajj and Aram Nalbandian, the two Lebanese kidnapped in Iraq last
month and freed Wednesday, returned to Beirut on Thursday October 14, 2004,
where their families welcomed them with tears of joy. Hajj was rushed to the
hospital following his arrival to continue treatment of his injuries, sustained
during the shelling of the building he was held captive in.
- Orascom announced on October 20, 2004, that two of its Egyptian employees
had been released by their kidnappers after a month in captivity.
- On October 27, 2004, a Japanese tourist taken hostage in Iraq said in a
video that he would be beheading if Japan were not pulling its troops out
of Iraq. The Japanese government refused.
- On October 28, 2004, an Iraqi militant group, the Army of Ansar al-Sunna,
said that they have killed 11 Iraqi security officers taken hostage. A video
showed that they kidnapped a Polish woman.
- On October 30, 2004, the Japanese authorities confirmed that the corpse
of a beheaded man found in Iraq is that of a Japanese man, Shosei Koda, taken
hostage a few days ago.
- On November 1, 2004, gunmen entered the compound of a Saudi Arabia complex
in Baghdad and took 6 people hostage: one American, a Nepalese and four Iraqis.
During the battle a security guard was killed as well as a gunman. Later on
two Iraqis were released. More than 160 foreigners have been taken hostages
in 2004 so far and about 33 have been killed. However, in October only, 152
Iraqis have been kidnapped.
- On November 3, 2004, gunmen kidnapped a Lebanese-American businessman in
Baghdad. A videotape showed the beheadings of three Iraqi National guardsmen
and an Iraqi officer.
- On November 11, 2004, the television network al-Jazeera broadcasted a videotape
showing an American contractor of Lebanese origin held hostage in Iraq. He
is believed to be Dean Sadek.
- On November 20, 2004, the Polish woman, Teresa Borez Khalifa, held hostage
for many days was liberated. She was flown back home.
- On December 10, 2004, two hostages working for a Kuwaiti transport company
were released after 43 days in captivity. They were a driver from Sri Lanka
and his colleague from Bangladesh.
- On December 25, 2004, one of Turkey richest businessman, Kahraman Sadikoglu,
president of the Istanbul based Tuzla Shipyard, and ship captain Ahmet Yurtdas,
are said to have been kidnapped in Iraq. There are some evidences that a ransom
of $24m has been asked for their release. They were working for the United
Nations and the Iraqi government clearing harbours of sunken ships.
- On January 7, 2005, the body of the American truck driver, William Bradley,
who was kidnapped in April 2004, was found near Baghdad. Bradley was working
for Halliburton.
- In Baghdad, 10 insurgents attacked a minibus leaving the hotel Bakhan killing
six Iraqis -the bus driver and five workers- and taking hostage a Turkish
entrepreneur Abdulkadir Tanrikulu.
- On January 17, 2005, insurgents kidnapped a Syrian Catholic archbishop,
Basile Georges Casmouussa, in Mosul. Only three percents of the 26 millions
Iraqis are Christians. Most of them are Chaldean-Assyrians and Armenians with,
in addition, a small number of Catholics.
- On Tuesday January 18, 2005, the Iraqi kidnappers released the Archbishop
Basile Georges Casmoussa. The Vatican acted quickly for his release but paid
no ransom (so they said). It is possible that the kidnappers did not know
who he was.
- On January 18, 2005, a videotape showed eight Chinese men said to have been
kidnapped and held hostage. The kidnappers said they were working for a company
with US contracts. However the Chinese government said that they were planning
to come home, as they could not find any job.
- A Japanese engineer was kidnapped in an ambush in central Iraq on January
19, 2005.
- A senior official from Tikrit, Ali Ghalib, the head of the governing council
for Salahuddin, was released by his kidnappers. He was held two weeks in captivity.
- On January 22, 2005, insurgents said that they kidnapped a Brazilian engineer
near Beiji while others from the Islamic Resistance Movement said that they
had released the eight Chinese kidnapped a few days before as a good will
measure.
- On February 1, 2005, a militant group, the Mujahideen Squadron, claimed
to have kidnapped an American soldier, John Adam, and threatened to kill him
if Iraqi prisoners were not released within 72 hours.
- Gunmen in Baghdad have kidnapped four Egyptian engineers working for a mobile
telephone company on February 5, 2005. It is not clear who was behind the
kidnappings.
- On February 7, 2005, US forces in Iraq stormed a house in Baghdad and freed
two Egyptian telecommunications engineers kidnapped the day before. US forces
raided a villa and freed two of the four Egyptians. The other two managed
to escape on their own from a car they had been locked in.
- A Turkish businessman who was kidnapped in Iraq in December and released
this week, has admitted on February 17, 2005, that he paid a ransom of half
a million dollars to his abductors. Sadikoglu's companions -two Turks and
one Iraqi- were freed in January. Some 80 Turks, most of them truck drivers,
have been killed in Iraq in recent months. Most died in attacks on truck convoys
although a number were the victims of kidnappers.
- On March 2, 2005, an Iraqi-born Swedish citizen and leader of the Christian
Democrat Party in Iraq, Minas Ibrahim Al-Yusufi has asked for help from the
Vatican and the Swedish King to rescue him. Al-Yusufi was kidnapped nearly
a month. Al-Yusifi, kidnapped in Iraq more than a month ago has been freed,
on March 18, 2005.
- 189 foreign nationals were kidnapped since October 2003 until March 18,
2005, of which 47 are still captive.
- The Pakistani government has appealed for the release of one of its embassy
staff that has been abducted. Malik Mohammed Javed disappeared on Saturday
April 9, 2005 after going to a Baghdad mosque for evening prayers. Pakistan's
foreign ministry said the Omar bin Khattab group had claimed his abduction.
- On April 11, 2005, a US contractor was kidnapped in the Baghdad area; he
was working on a reconstruction project.
- Iraqi forces have reportedly found no hostages on April 18, 2005, in the
Iraqi town of Madain, where Sunni militants were said to have taken scores
of Shia captive. A leading Sunni cleric has told the BBC the reports of hostage-taking
were fabricated as an excuse to raid Madain. Reports say a force of 1,500
Iraqi soldiers, backed up by US forces, and entered the town of Madain.
- Militants issued a tape of an Australian man who has been taken hostage
in Iraq. The man, who identified himself as 63-year-old Douglas Wood, appealed
to the US, British and Australian governments to pull troops out of Iraq.
- On May 2, 2005, Australia said it will send a team to Iraq to seek the release
of a kidnapped Australian contractor, Douglas Wood, aged 63, living in California.
But Australian Prime Minister John Howard ruled out any negotiations with
the man's captors. Mr Wood's American wife says she is sure the man shown
is her husband. Hisfamily made a fresh televised plea for his freedom on Saturday
May 7, 2005, after his captors released a second video demanding Canberra
start withdrawing troops within 72 hours.
- The kidnapping of a Japanese man by a militant group won't affect Tokyo's
550 troop deployment there, Japan's defence chief said Tuesday May 10, 2005,
and the captive's family urged the government to stay the course. The Ansar
al-Sunnah Army claimed that it had kidnapped Akihiko Saito, 44, after ambushing
a group of five foreign contractors. Saito was ''seriously injured'' in the
fighting and the others have died.
- Sunday May 15, 2005, insurgents free Raja Nawaf, governor of the western
province of Anbar, who was kidnapped on Tuesday.
- The Army of Ansar al-Sunna released a video on Sunday May 15, 2005, of the
ambush of a convoy in which it took a Japanese man hostage. The group kidnapped
Akihiko Saito last week after killing four foreigners and 12 Iraqis in fierce
clashes near a US base in western Iraq. The security company whose employees
were ambushed, said there were 14 Iraqi staff and four foreigners in the convoy
attacked. It said two foreigners and four Iraqis were known to have survived
the ambush. Saito may have died of his wounds.
- Insurgents demanded that his company stop all activities in Iraq after kidnapping
a Turkish businessman, Ali Musluoglu on May 24, 2005.
- The Army of Ansar al-Sunna, said on Saturday May 28, 2005, they had killed
a Japanese hostage seized in Iraq. His corpse was shown on the Internet. Japan's
Foreign Ministry and the hostage's brother confirmed that the video footage
showed the body of 44-year-old Akihiko Saito. It is not clear if his captors
have killed him on that date or if he died following the wounds received when
he was captured. He spent twenty years of his life in the French Foreign Legion.
He was working in Iraq for the security firm Hart.
- The kidnapped governor of Iraq's Anbar province has been found dead on May
31, 2005, along with his suspected captors after a clash with US forces. Raja
Nawaf's body was found tied to a gas canister in a house in Rawa, near the
Syria border. He was kidnapped on 10 May. A group claiming to have seized
him said it would hold him captive until US troops pulled back from Qaim.
- In the first haft of June 2005, the risk of being kidnapped in Iraq remains
high. This is true for the foreigners but the Iraqis are at risk too, especially
those who are making money. In the last 18 months it is believed that at least
5,000 Iraqis were kidnapped although no mention of most of them appeared in
the media, local or foreign. Some of the kidnappings are political -involving
Iraqis working for the Americans- but most are for ransom that can amount
to $50,000.
- In Kirkuk on June 13, 2005, a Kurdish Human Rights activist woman has been
kidnapped.
- On June 15, 2005, Australian hostage Douglas Wood has been rescued from
his captors after being held for six weeks in Iraq. The engineer, seized in
late April, had been rescued in an Iraqi military raid backed by the US.
- An Indian businessman was abducted in Baghdad by armed captors on July 23,
2005. Unidentified gunmen entered the businessman's office in the Al-Mansour
district in western Baghdad and took him along with $US 150,000.
- US troops freed an American who had been held hostage in Iraq for 10 months
when they raided a farmhouse just outside Baghdad on Wednesday September 7,
2005. Roy Hallums had been kidnapped on November 1, 2004, along with five
colleagues from a Saudi-owned company when gunmen raided a villa in Baghdad.
Four Iraqis were released fairly rapidly but a fifth man, Filipino Robert
Tarongoy, was freed only in June.
- Former American hostage Roy Hallums left Iraq for the United States on Friday
September 9, 2005, two days after he was rescued from an isolated farmhouse
near Baghdad. Roy Hallums was working for the Saudi Arabian Trading and Construction
Co., supplying food to the Iraqi army, when he was kidnapped November 1, 2004.
He was seized along with two other foreigners after a firefight in the upscale
Mansour neighbourhood. An Iraqi guard and one attacker were killed. A Filipino,
a Nepalese and three Iraqis also were abducted but later freed. He was rescued
on Wednesday by US troops from a farmhouse 15 miles south of Baghdad. His
abductors fled without a fight.
- Gunmen kidnapped the brother of Iraq's interior minister as he drove home
in Baghdad on Saturday October 1, 2005. Jebbar Jabr Solagh, who also goes
by the name Baqir Solagh Jabor, was taken as he drove home to the capital's
mainly Shiite district of Sadr City, where he also works as a hospital director.
Solagh is the brother of Interior Minister Bayan Jabr Solagh, the Shiite head
of Iraq's police forces.
- The brother of Iraq's interior minister, kidnapped by gunmen on Saturday,
has been freed from captivity on Sunday October 2, 2005. He was freed following
the intervention of Moqtada al-Sadr, a radical young Shiite cleric who has
a strong following in Sadr City.
- The Baghdad correspondent for the British newspaper The Guardian newspaper
disappears in Iraq and is believed to have been kidnapped on October 19, 2005.
- Six Iranian pilgrims were seized near a Shiite religious shrine.
- A French engineer was kidnapped in Baghdad.
- On December 7, 2005, gunmen kidnapped the 8-year-old, Karim Salam, son of
a bodyguard of a judge in Saddam Hussein's trial.
- A statement on the Internet on December 8, 2005, said that the Islamic Army
in Iraq killed an American hostage, Ronald Alan Schulz. According to the statement
he was a "Security Consultant." The American authorities have not
confirmed his death.
- There is no news about the French aid worker and the German woman archaeologist
who are also in kidnappers' hands.
- An Iraqi extremist group has broadcast an Internet video on December 19,
2005, apparently showing a hostage being shot dead. The Islamic Army of Iraq
said the footage showed the death of American contractor Ronald Allen Schulz,
whom it claimed to have killed last week. Mr Schulz - a former US marine who
worked as a contractor in Iraq - was reported captured on 6 December.
- Al-Qaida in Iraq threatened to kill five Sudanese Embassy employees in two
days unless Sudan closes its embassy.
- Gunmen kidnapped a Lebanese engineer, Camile Nassif Tannous. He was working
for the Schneider engineering firm.
- The six Sudanese embassy employees were freed after Sudan closed its mission
in Baghdad.
- A French engineer, Bernard Planche, who was kidnapped on December 5, 2005,
was released on January 8, 2006. The insurgents asked France to pullback its
soldiers from Iraq but it is well known that there are none there.
- A reporter, Phil Sands, was kidnapped on December 26, 2005, but nobody knew
about it until American soldiers rescued him on December 31.
- Two German engineers were also kidnapped on January 28, 2006 in Beiji. Four
Iranian pilgrims, who had been taken hostage by armed men in Iraq 74 days
ago, were released. The four, Ebrahim Abutalebi Tehrani, Mehdi Jazeeni, Hassan
Jazeeni and Mohammad Talebi, were part of a six-member group, including two
women, who travelled to Iraq on a pilgrimage visit in late November. They
were kidnapped near the city of Balad, north of Baghdad, on November 28, on
their way back from the city of Samarra. The two women were released one day
later and were taken to Iran's consulate in Karbala, but there was no information
about the fate of the four men. One month later, the al Arabiya television
quoted a group introducing itself as the 'Sad ibn Abi Waqqas' battalion as
saying in a statement that they held the Iranian hostages. However, the kidnappers
released the four men near Balad on Friday evening.
- A militant group, the Ansar al-Tawhid Wa-Sunna, holding two German hostages
in Iraq issued what they called their final ultimatum on February 12, 2006,
before killing the captives unless Berlin met their demands. The two engineers,
Rene Braeunlich and Thomas Nitzschke, were abducted on January 24 outside
their workplace in the industrial town of Beiji. In a video released in late
January, the group demanded that Germany end its cooperation with the Iraqi
government and close its mission in Baghdad, and that German firms stop their
dealings there.
- On Saturday February 18, 2006, it was confirmed that two foreigners who
disappeared two days ago in the southeastern city of Basra were Macedonians
kidnapped on their way from the airport to the city centre. The kidnappers
have demanded a ransom.
- The two Macedonian contractors were freed by their kidnappers on February
20, 2006.
- On March 9, 2006, the German government believes that two German engineers,
Rene Braeunlich and Thomas Nitzschke, who were abducted on January 24 outside
their workplace in the industrial town of Beiji by gunmen, have not been killed
by their kidnappers. Last month the militant group holding the two men, Ansar
al-Tawhid Wa-Sunna, issued what it called a final ultimatum before killing
the captives unless Berlin met its demands that Germany end cooperation with
Baghdad, close its embassy and force all German firms to leave the country.
- Two German hostages held in Iraq since the end of January have appeared
in a video pleading for help on April 8, 2006. A statement by their captors
posted on a Web site often used by Iraq insurgent groups demanded the release
of all prisoners held by US-led forces in Iraq and warned the two would be
killed if its call was ignored.
- Two German engineers held captive for 99 days in Iraq were released unharmed
and in stable condition Tuesday May 2, 2006. Rene Braeunlich and Thomas Nitzschke
are receiving medical and psychological care from German specialists in a
safe place in Iraq. The two men are to return to Germany on Wednesday. They
were kidnapped January 24 on their way to work at an Iraqi-government owned
detergent plant in Beiji, 55 miles north of Baghdad. Their employer, Leipzig-based
Cryotec Anlagenbau AG, has a commercial relationship with the plant.
- The German government on Thursday May 4, 2006 denied that it had paid a ransom to kidnappers in Iraq for the release of two German hostages, Rene Braeunlich and Thomas Nitzschke.
- The German government paid more than $10 million in ransom to win the freedom
of two men held hostage in Iraq for 99 days we were told on Saturday May6,
2006; this was several million dollars more than the sum paid for Susanne
Osthoff (($5 million) -a German woman held in Iraq last year. The government
is known to have paid to win the release of hostages in the past, but it has
said repeatedly it cannot be blackmailed and its policy is not to pay ransoms.
- Four Russians taken hostage by Iraqi gunmen in Baghdad have been released on June 3, 2006, hours after they were captured. The embassy workers were snatched during a deadly attack that killed one member of their group. Insurgents had blocked off their vehicle in the Mansour district of the capital and then opened fire on the car causing the fatality.
- On June 15, 2006, a Sunni group has kidnapped a Turkish technician, Hasan
Eskimutlu, and demanded that Turkey withdraw its envoy from Baghdad and press
for the release of Iraqi prisoners in US and Iraqi jail. The group gave Turkey
one week to meet its demands, which also included banning Turkish companies
from transporting supplies to US bases in Iraq.
- A group linked to the al-Qaida terror network, by the Mujahedeen Shura Council, announced on Sunday June 25, 2006, that it had executed four Russian Embassy workers it kidnapped in Baghdad. The four hostages appeared at the beginning of the videotape, speaking Russian. Then the tape showed the beheading of one hostage and the shooting of a second and a beheaded body of a third.
- Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Monday June 26, 2006, Iraq had become an "arena for terrorists" after what appeared to be the death of four embassy employees who were kidnapped in Baghdad four weeks ago. An al Qaida-led group posted video footage on the Internet on Sunday showing the killing of three men it said were Russian hostages. The same video also showed four men speaking in Russian before the killings.
- Russia offered a $10 million reward for information on the killers of five Russian Embassy staff workers, the head of the KGB's successor agency said Friday June 30, 2006. The announcement came two days after President Vladimir Putin ordered Special Forces to hunt down and "destroy" the killers.
Three Kenyans have been kidnapped in Iraq after the ship they had stowed away on dumped them in the war-ravaged country, on Friday July 28, 2006.
- More than 200 foreigners and thousands of Iraqis have been kidnapped since
the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.Fifty-nine foreign hostages have been
reported executed by their captors -41 in 2004, 13 in 2005 and five in 2006.
The following is a list of foreigners kidnapped since the beginning of 2005
and believed to be still missing in Iraq:
Mohammed Haroun Hamad Sudan March 9; Maher Ataya Sudan March 9; Nabil Tawfiq
Sulaiman Egypt March 19 Mitwali Mohammed Qassem Egypt March 19 Jeffrey Ake
US April 11 Six unidentified Jordan May 6 Ali Abdullah Turkey June 7 Unidentified
Turkey June 21; Samuel Edward Egypt September 26 Abderrahim Boualam Morocco
Oct 20 Abdelkrim El Mouhafidim Morocco October 20 Six unidentified Sudan Dec
23 2006: Moses Munyao Kenya January 18 George Noballa Kenya January 18 Hasan
Eskimutlu Turkey June 15* Three unidentified Kenya July 28*
- A Turkish technician kidnapped in Iraq was released unharmed on Wednesday
August 2, 2006. Hasan Eskimutlu was kidnapped on June 14.
- A little known Iraqi Islamist militant group, the Brigades of the Lions
of Righteousness, said on Saturday August 26, 2006, it had kidnapped a Turkish
employee, Yildirim Tek of Istanbul, of a Turkish firm and demanded Ankara
sever its ties with Baghdad's government for his release.
- More than 200 foreigners and thousands of Iraqis have been kidnapped since
the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Fifty-nine foreign hostages have been reported executed by their captors -41
in 2004, 13 in 2005 and five in 2006. The following is a list of foreigners
kidnapped since the beginning of 2005 and believed to be still missing in
Iraq:
Mohammed Haroun Hamad Sudan March 9, Maher Ataya Sudan March 9, Nabil Tawfiq
Sulaiman Egypt March 19, Mitwali Mohammed Qassem Egypt March 19, Jeffrey Ake
US April 11, Six unidentified Jordan May 6, Ali Abdullah Turkey June 7, Unidentified
Turkey June 21, Samuel Edward Egypt September 26, Abderrahim Boualam Morocco
October 20, Abdelkrim El Mouhafidim Morocco October 20, Six unidentified Sudan
December 23 2006, Moses Munyao Kenya January 18, George Noballa Kenya January
18, Hasan Eskimutlu Turkey June 15, Yildirim Tek Turkey July 27, three unidentified
Kenya July 28.
- British and US forces hunted four kidnapped Americans and an Austrian in southern Iraq on Friday November 17, 2006, a day after the truck convoy they were guarding was hijacked at a fake security checkpoint near the Kuwaiti border. The foreigners' Kuwaiti employers and police sources could not confirm media reports the 25-year-old Austrian former soldier had been killed in a rescue operation. The men were seized, along with nine Asian drivers who were quickly released, when 43 trucks and six security vehicles were halted near Safwan by men dressed as police.
- The International Committee of the Red Cross has called for the immediate
release of about 30 people seized from the Red Crescent offices in Baghdad
on December 17, 2006, by armed men wearing commando-style uniforms. Six of
those kidnapped, mainly elderly men, have since been released. The Red Cross
called for the others to be freed, saying the Iraqi Red Crescent provided
vital help for those in need.
- The group holding two German hostages -Hannelore Kadhim, a woman married
to an Iraqi and her 20-year-old son were abducted from their Baghdad home
on February 6- in Iraq issued a new ultimatum on April 3, 2007, demanding
that German troops be pulled out of Afghanistan. The abductors, the Brigades
of the Arrows of Righteousness, demanded the withdrawal of German troops in
Afghanistan within 10 days. If the German government did not comply, the hostages
would be killed, the ultimatum said.
- A 61-year-old German woman kidnapped in Iraq earlier this year has been freed on July 11, 2007, but her son remains a hostage. Hannelore Krause and her son Sinan, 20, were seized from their home in western Baghdad in February. A militant Islamist group had threatened to kill them unless German troops were withdrawn from Afghanistan.
- A vicar who has been working to secure the release of five British hostages
in Iraq has fled the country on July 11, 2007, after being denounced as a
spy. Canon Andrew White, who ran Iraq's only Anglican Church, left Baghdad
amid fears for his safety. The five Britons' abductors reportedly threatened
to kill them unless the vicar stopped trying to find them.
- The families of five British men taken prisoner in Iraq more than 100 days ago appealed to their captors on November 6, 2007: "please send them home to us". The men -four bodyguards and a computer expert- were seized on 29 May from Baghdad's Finance Ministry by gunmen believed to be in the Mehdi Army.
- Two Catholic priests kidnapped in Iraq have been freed and are in good
health we were told on Sunday October 21, 2007. The priests celebrated their
release with a service at a church in Mosul, where they were taken hostage
amid reports they were being held for a $1 million ransom. Last week Pope
Benedict appealed for the priests to be freed.
- Kidnappers holding five British hostages have threatened to kill one of them in 10 days unless British forces leave Iraq. The threat came in a video on December 4, 2007, which shows one of the men sitting on the floor surrounded by gunmen pointing assault rifles at him.
- On December 9, 2007, Prime Minister Gordon Brown called for the immediate release of five British hostages kidnapped in Iraq six months ago. He said the taking of hostages would not change British policy in Iraq, and the government would do everything in its power to secure their release. One of the hostages has now been identified as Peter Moore, who was working as a computer consultant.
- Security forces have launched a search for a British journalist and his
Iraqi translator working for US television network CBS who were kidnapped
in the port city of Basra. Witnesses said the two journalists were led away
from the Palace Sultan Hotel in the southern city of Basra at gunpoint by
a gang of about 10 gunmen on Sunday February 10, 2008.
- On February 29, 2008, the families of five Britons held hostage in Iraq for nine months plead with the captors to release them. The families of the five security contractors snatched from Iraq's Finance Ministry in May call on the hostage takers to "show the world your true humanity, and let our loved ones go."
- Gunmen kidnapped a Chaldean Catholic archbishop, Paulos Faraj Rahho, Friday
February 29, 2008, in Mosul. The gunmen killed three people who were with
Archbishop after he ended a Mass at a nearby church. An aide to Iraq's Cardinal
Emmanuel III Delly, leader of the church, said he did not know who was behind
the kidnapping of the 65-year-old archbishop.
- The remains of two American security contractors who were kidnapped more
than a year ago have been found on Monday March 24, 2008. The remains were
identified as Ronald Withrow, who worked for JPI Worldwide when he was kidnapped
on January 5, 2007, and John Roy Young, who worked for Crescent Security Group
when he was kidnapped on November 16, 2006.
- A British journalist abducted two months ago in Basra while on assignment for CBS News was freed Monday April 14, 2008. A team of Iraqi army soldiers found Richard Butler when they raided a house in central Basra. The freelance journalist was abducted from a hotel February 10. He is in very good health condition, mentally and physically.
- Iraqi security forces have freed seven of 11 people who were kidnapped
earlier on Sunday April 20, 2008, near Baquba. Nine university students, their
driver, and another man were taken hostage when gunmen stopped their vehicle
at a fake checkpoint.
- A body recovered in Iraq was identified Wednesday April 23, 2008, as that of Jonathon Cote, an Army veteran who was working as a contractor when he was kidnapped with four others more than a year ago.
- On May 17, 2008, former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey made a direct
appeal urging those holding five British hostages in Iraq to free them. The
four guards and a computer expert were seized in Baghdad on 29 May 2007. Lord
Carey, who made a similar appeal last year, did not speak for the government
and it preferred discreet negotiation.
- On May 29, 2008, the families of five British men being held hostage in
Iraq for a year have made a joint appeal for their release. The civilian contractors
were kidnapped by armed militants at the Iraqi Ministry of Finance in Baghdad.
Some of their friends and relatives marked the first anniversary of their
capture by doing an interview with the BBC's Frank Gardner. Britain's ambassador
to Iraq also urged the hostage-takers to free their captives and appealed
for information.
- Five British hostages who were seized in Baghdad more than a year ago are still alive we were told on June 22, 2008. Armed militants seized the men -a computer expert and four guards- at Iraq's Ministry of Finance in May 2007.
- The kidnappers of five Britons held in Iraq for nearly two years have sent a new video of the captives to the British embassy in Baghdad on March 22, 2009. The video shows one hostage, Peter Moore, saying the five are being treated well. He calls for their release. The video was shot eight days ago and has not been released to the media.
- On May 28, 2009, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband has appealed for the release of five British hostages in Iraq as the second anniversary of their capture approaches. The five British men were kidnapped along with two Iraqis on May 29, 2007, from an Iraqi finance ministry building in Baghdad. Four of the Britons worked for Canadian-based security firm GardaWorld, according to the company. They were protecting the fifth Briton, a computer analyst with US-based BearingPoint. The only fully identified captive has been Peter Moore, who said his name in a video released by the kidnappers.
- An imprisoned militant whose release has been demanded by the kidnappers of five British hostages has been freed from US custody. Shia leader Laith al-Khazali was handed over by the US military in Iraq to the Iraqi authorities on Saturday June 6, 209.
- Two bodies feared to be those of British hostages held in Iraq have been handed over, Foreign Secretary David Miliband said on June 20, 2009. Forensic tests were being carried out on the remains to see if they were of two of the five Britons who were captured in Iraq in May 2007. He said his thoughts were with the families of the men and "they will fear the worst for their loved ones".
- A reporter from Maine has escaped from the Taliban in Afghanistan. David Rohde fled his captors on Friday June 20, 2009, along with an Afghan reporter. They scaled a wall and are now safe in Pakistan. Rohde is a reporter for the New York Times and a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner. He was taken captive on November 10th while researching a book on Afghanistan.
- Two bodies handed to officials in Iraq on Friday June 19, 2009, have been
confirmed as Britons Jason Swindlehurst and Jason Creswell. They were seized
from the finance ministry in Baghdad on May 29, 2007, along with Peter Moore,
an information technology consultant, and two other bodyguards. Forensic tests
were carried out on the remains to identify the victims.
- The two British hostages whose bodies were returned from Iraq last week had been shot we were told on Tuesday June 30, 2009. A coroner concluded security guards Jason Swindlehurst, from Skelmersdale, Lancashire, and Jason Creswell, from Glasgow, died from gunshot wounds.
- Two British hostages held in Iraq since 2007 are probably dead we were told on Wednesday July 29, 2009. The British government has recently informed the families of British hostages Alan McMenemy and Alec MacLachlan that they were now likely to be dead. He also urged the hostage-takers to release Peter Moore, another Briton seized at the same time.
- A body handed to UK authorities in Iraq on September 4, 2009, has been identified as that of Alec MacLachlan -one of five British men seized in Baghdad in 2007.
- A Christian doctor, Mahasin Bashir, abducted by an armed gang overnight
from her home in Bashiqa near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul was released
on Sunday September 27, 2009.
- Britain on Wednesday December 30, 2009, hailed the release of a computer
expert seized in Iraq in 2007 after an "unspeakable" kidnap ordeal during
which three bodyguards taken with him were killed and a fourth is feared dead.
Two French reporters have been kidnapped north-east of the Afghan capital
Kabul we were told on December 31, 2009. The journalists were seized in Kapisa
province, along with three Afghans travelling with them.
- Britain on Wednesday December 30, 2009, hailed the release of a computer expert seized in Iraq in 2007 after an "unspeakable" kidnap ordeal during which three bodyguards taken with him were killed and a fourth is feared dead.
- Two French reporters have been kidnapped north-east of the Afghan capital
Kabul we were told on December 31, 2009. The journalists were seized in Kapisa
province, along with three Afghans travelling with them.
- The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned about the fate of two French journalists and their three Afghan colleagues, all apparently kidnapped while on assignment in the eastern province of Kapisa. The Afghan government reported them kidnapped on December 30. The Taliban said on Sunday January 3, 2010, that they were not holding the men, but many local Taliban groups operate independently.
- A US military contractor who was apparently kidnapped was released last week, the Pentagon said on March 28, 2010. Issa Salomi, a 60-year-old Iraqi-American interpreter working with the US army in Baghdad, disappeared on January 23.
- Authorities in northern Iraq have found 14 decomposed bodies of civilians kidnapped in 2008 by al Qaeda in Iraq we were told on Thursday April 15, 2010. The bodies, which were buried with ID cards, were found just west of Samara in Salaheddin province.
- A Kurdish journalist was kidnapped here in the capital of the semiautonomous Kurdistan region of Iraq, tortured and then found dead with two bullets in the head on a highway, we were told on Thursday May 6, 2010. Zardasht Osman was killed because of his scathing articles about the region's two governing parties and its leaders, including the dominant Barzani family.
- A Japanese freelance journalist who went missing in Afghanistan in late March and was apparently detained by Afghan militants has been released and is under the protection of the Japanese Embassy in Kabul. Kosuke Tsuneoka, 41, was freed Saturday September 4, 2010, and was in good health.
- A Dutch aid worker and his Afghan driver have been abducted by gunmen in Takhar province in Afghanistan on Monday October 25, 2010. At least 22 aid workers have been kidnapped this year alone, 11 of them killed. Abductions and other violence against aid workers are on the rise in Afghanistan.
- A Dutch aid worker and his Afghan driver, who were abducted in northern Afghanistan in October, have been freed, the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs said Thursday December 2, 2010.
- Kidnappers in Afghanistan killed a Bangladeshi working for a South Korean firm and are holding three road workers hostage after storming their camp at gunpoint. The attack happened on Friday December 17, 2010, at a remote road construction camp between the northern Afghan provinces of Balkh and Samangan. The body of the dead man was later delivered to the office of South Korean construction company Samwhan Corporation in Mazar-i-Sharif. Some of the workers had escaped, three were still being held. Gunmen had burst into the camp, killing the Bangladeshi immediately and then kidnapping the others.
- Two Bangladeshi road workers kidnapped in Afghanistan three days ago have been freed, saying that five others in captivity are in good health, we were told on Monday December 20, 2010. One Bangladeshi engineer was killed and seven workers taken hostage on Friday when gunmen stormed a remote road-building camp run by a South Korean construction firm between the northern Afghan provinces of Balkh and Samangan.
- On December 21, 2010, a video recording showed two French journalists held hostage in Afghanistan for almost a year are alive. The video, which was made last month, showed television reporters Stephane Taponier and Herve Ghesquiere, giving a message to their families. The French government hopes they will be freed soon and declined to say whether officials know where they are being held.
- Gunmen on motorcycles kidnapped six road engineers - three Afghan and three Pakistani- and their driver as they were travelling to a work site in northern Afghanistan on Thursday March 17, 2011. They were targeted by at least 15 men on motorcycles in the province of Sar-e-Pul. The abducted men are employees on a United Nations-funded road building contract. Kidnappings -mostly of Afghans- for ransom or for political reasons are common in Afghanistan, where violence has made efforts to rebuild the country costly and dangerous.
- Iraqi insurgents killed and mutilated a Christian construction worker whom they had kidnapped over the weekend and demanded $100,000 in ransom for we were told on Monday May 16, 2011. Ashur Issa Yaqub, a 29-year-old Chaldean Christian, had been snatched on Saturday in the oil-rich ethnically-mixed northern city of Kirkuk, and is survived by his wife and three children. Yaqub had been found with his head "almost cut off fully, his legs and arms tied together, and his clothes covered in blood." The kidnappers had demanded $100,000 for Yaqub's release. The average daily wage for a construction worker averages to around 25,000 Iraqi dinars ($21).
- An Iraqi court handed down a 15-year jail term on Saturday July 2, 2011, to a man convicted of taking part in the abduction of a British journalist in 2008. The court had sentenced the man for the armed kidnapping of Richard Butler, who was seized with his translator and held hostage for two months. Butler was kidnapped on February 10, 2008, while on assignment for US television network CBS in Basra. He was freed two months later after a fierce fire fight between his abductors and Iraqi forces.
- On Wednesday August 24, 2011, fears are growing that two Germans who went missing after setting off to climb snow-capped mountains in war-torn Afghanistan could have been kidnapped. There is an intensive search for them under way. Both vanished near the Salang Pass, a major route through the Hindu Kush mountains connecting the capital, Kabul, to northern Afghanistan. They might have been abducted by nomads. Taliban insurgents are not thought to be active in the relatively peaceful area where they vanished, just north of the capital Kabul.
Four Afghan employees of a French development agency who had been abducted by gunmen were released unharmed Tuesday October 11, 2011. The four men, who worked for the aid group ACTED, spent a day in the custody of a local militant commander in northwestern Faryab province before a delegation of elders from the area negotiated their release. It believed the kidnappers were Taliban fighters.
Al Qaeda is holding a US aid worker who was kidnapped in August in Pakistan, the extremist group's leader Ayman al-Zawahiri said in a Thursday December 1, 2011. Zawahiri reportedly claimed in an audio message released on jihadist forums, that al Qaeda had on August 13 abducted the elderly USAID contractor Warren Weinstein, who was "neck-deep in American aid to Pakistan". He said that the White House could secure the 70-year-old Weinstein's release if it halts air strikes in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen, and releases the 1993 World Trade Centre bombers and relatives of Osama bin Laden.
Three security contractors, two of them American veterans and one from Fiji,
have been freed in Iraq almost three weeks after they were detained by the
Iraqi Army we were told on Wednesday December 28, 2011. The men, who were
working for a security firm, were arrested by Iraqi Army forces in Mahmudiyah
on December 9 but were not charged with any offense.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said one of its British employees has been kidnapped by unknown gunmen in southwestern Baluchistan province. The man was driving to the Red Cross office in Quetta, the capital of southwestern Baluchistan province, Thursday January 5, 2012, when several gunmen stopped his vehicle and took him away.
A militia loyal to Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr freed an American former soldier on Saturday March 17, 2012, after holding him captive in Baghdad for nine months. The American, identified as Randy Michaels, was shown on television in a U.S. military uniform with no insignia, flanked by two members of parliament from Sadr's movement, including the parliament's first deputy speaker. He was handed over to the United Nations mission in Baghdad, which transferred him to the U.S. embassy. Michaels said he had deployed to Iraq in 2003 and initially served there as a soldier for 15 months.
A search is under way for two foreign women and two Afghan men who were kidnapped Tuesday May 22, 2012, in Afghanistan's northern Badakhshan province. The women -both Westerners- are health care workers. They were travelling with three male colleagues about 55 miles from Badakhshan's capital, Faizabad, when they were abducted by six gunmen. One of the Afghan men escaped while the two women and their male interpreters were taken by the kidnappers to Shar-e-Bozurg district. The women worked for Medair, a nongovernmental organization based in Switzerland, and were travelling by horseback when the group was kidnapped.
Months after their separate kidnappings in Afghanistan, two French civilians were free of their captors on Monday April 8, 2013. One of the men, identified as a freelance photojournalist, escaped his captors in Wardak Province and was transferred to France’s embassy in Kabul. The man, identified as Pierre Borghi, had been taken hostage on a street in Kabul in November by four armed men. The other man, whose identity was not announced but was identified as a humanitarian aid worker.