A top aide to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr said today that kidnappers who abducted and threatened to kill a US journalist had promised to set him free.

Top aides to firebrand Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called on kidnappers to immediately free a western journalist they had threatened to kill unless US forces withdrew from the holy city of Najaf.

Iraqi militants are threatening to kill a Turkish hostage if his company does not withdraw from Iraq within three days, private NTV television reported in Istanbul.