Terror group kidnaps hostages in Iraq

The extremist movement responsible for beheading two foreign hostages, Al-Zarqawi, announced today it had kidnapped three Turkish workers and would kill them within 72 hours unless Turkish companies quit doing business with U.S. forces in Iraq, an Arab television station reported.

The warning was issued in a videotape broadcast by Al-Jazeera television, which showed three men kneeling in front of two masked gunmen while holding up their passports. The station said the threat to behead the three was made in a statement, which the announcer quoted.

The tape was released as President George W. Bush was travelling to Turkey for the Nato summit, which is to approve military training assistance for the new Iraqi government.

The Iraq war and Bush are deeply unpopular in Turkey, the only predominantly Muslim country in Nato. The deaths of the three hostages during the alliance meeting would further enflame passions already high because of opposition to the war.

An Al-Jazeera employee told AP that the tape was received today but he gave no further details.

It was unclear from the tape when the men were kidnapped or whom they were working for. Turkish officials in Baghdad said they believed the hostages were taken two days ago, but that the circumstances were not immediately clear.

“We don’t have any information right now,” said a Turkish consular official who asked to be identified only by his surname, Gungor. “We are still waiting.”

Al-Zarqawi’s group, Tawhid and Jihad, has also claimed responsibility for kidnapping and beheading American businessman Nicholas Berg in May and South Korean hostage Kim Sun-il this week.

Seven Turks working for companies doing business with the Americans were kidnapped near Fallujah but were freed this month after their employer said “prominent families” in the area secured their freedom.

More than 40 people from several countries have been abducted in Iraq since April – although many of them have been released or freed by coalition soldiers.