Two Indonesian women kidnapped in Iraq

Two Indonesian women have been kidnapped in Iraq, but authorities in Jakarta do not know the identity of the captors or their demands, the foreign ministry said today.

Arab TV station Al-Jazeera showed footage yesterday of 10 hostages seized in Iraq by militants, saying two of them were Indonesians working for an “electricity company”.

“We can confirm there are two Indonesian women being held in Iraq,” said Marty Natalegawa, foreign ministry spokesman. “We are trying to ascertain why they are in Iraq. We have no knowledge right now of who the captors are and we have not received any demands for their release.”

He identified the women as Rosidah binti Anan and Rafikan binti Aming and said they were from the capital Jakarta. He said the government was still trying to contact their families.

More than 140 foreigners have been kidnapped in Iraq by a range of groups, some holding them for ransom while others have set political conditions for their release. At least 26 hostages have been killed.