Iraqi tribal chief frees four hostages

A tribal chief in the turbulent Iraqi city of Fallujah led a raid that freed four Jordanian hostages kidnapped a week ago, it emerged today.

A brother of one of the four hostages, Mohammed abu Jaafar said from Jordan that he had spoken by telephone with his brother Ahmad, who told him: “Now I am free. I was in the hands of evil people. Now I am in the hands of good people.”

Also today, the Arab satellite network al-Jazeera reported that an al-Qaida-linked militant group in Iraq said it would free two Turkish hostages after their company promised to stop sending trucks to US troops in Iraq.

Turkey’s truckers association said it was halting deliveries to US forces in Iraq immediately after Monday’s release of a video showing militants shooting and killing truck driver Murat Yuce.

Sheik Haj Ibrahim Jassam said he received word last night that four kidnapped Jordanians were being held in a house on the edge of the city of Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad.

He said that once the raid began, the kidnappers fled the house and the four men were brought to his house unharmed.

“I called upon my brothers and tribesmen to free the hostages, so we raided the house last night,” Jassam said. “I’m glad that those innocent Muslims were freed.”

The four men were abducted by a group calling itself “Mujahedeen of Iraq, the Group of Death”.

Families of the four – three drivers and a businessman – had previously said the kidnappers promised to free the Jordanians after their relatives and fellow truck drivers staged an anti-American demonstration last Friday.

The two Turkish men who were to be released, Abdurrahman Demir and Sait Unurlu, were shown in a video broadcast today kneeling before three black-clad masked men carrying weapons.

“Since the Turkish company decided to stop sending its trucks to American troops in Iraq, the Tawhid and Jihad has decided to release the two Turkish hostages,” one masked man read aloud, clutching a pistol in his right hand.

Meanwhile, an Iraqi civilian was killed when a roadside bomb detonated as an Iraqi National Guard patrol passed an area in the town of Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad today. The guards were unharmed, said Ali Hussein, from Baqouba’s General Hospital.

The news of the hostage releases came after a day of widespread violence in Iraq, when insurgents killed seven Iraqi security personnel and the US military said guerrillas killed four Americans. Two others were killed in non-hostile incidents.