Network airs tape of Russian hostages in Iraq
Sunday, May 16, 2004 Posted: 2023 GMT (0423 HKT)
(CNN) -- The Arabic language news network Al Jazeera aired pictures Sunday of
what it said were two Russian electrical workers taken hostage last week by an
Islamic group in Dura, south of Baghdad.
A statement from a group referring to itself as Jaish al-Tifa al-Mansoura --
the Army of the Victorious Sect -- said it was holding the men and called on
countries participating in "this criminal act," presumably the war in Iraq, to
withdraw their citizens "before it's too late."
The videotape depicted the men eating as they sat on the floor. There was no
independent verification of its authenticity, but the Russian television
network RTR said the men appeared to be two Russian workers reported captured
May 10 in an ambush.
"We are showing the whole world our prisoners' pictures and how the Muslim
mujahedeen are treating them," the previously unknown group said in the
statement, which accompanied the tape.
"We have decided to punish America and its followers, and we'll destroy the
crusaders' imperial dream," the statement continued.
The men were working for the electric power consortium Inter Energo Servis when
their vehicle was ambushed south of Baghdad. Another IES worker was killed in
the attack, a company spokesman said.
It was the second time IES contractors had been taken hostage. In April, five
Ukrainians and three Russians were held briefly and released. Afterward, the
company allowed those who wanted to go home to do so, but most elected to stay.
The consortium has about 370 workers in Iraq and holds contracts to repair
power plants in Nasiriya, in southern Iraq, and in Baghdad.
During the past several weeks, civilian hostage-taking has become an
increasingly common tactic by insurgents. At least two kidnapped foreign
civilians have been killed and their executions recorded on videotape.
Last week, a video posted on an al Qaeda-linked Web site showed the beheading
of American Nicholas Berg at the hands of his captors.
In April, Al Jazeera received a videotape showing the shooting execution of
Italian civilian Fabrizio Quattrocchi.
Iraqi insurgents have tried to use the civilian abductions to pressure
countries into withdrawing their troops from Iraq.
In recent months, civilians from the Czech Republic, Canada, Italy, Ukraine,
Japan, China, South Korea, Britain, Pakistan, India, Turkey, the Philippines
and the United States have been kidnapped.
Some have been released and others remain missing.
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