Kidnappers issue final warning over journalist

The purported kidnappers of an Italian journalist abducted in Iraq claimed they are still interrogating her and said it is giving Rome a final warning to withdraw its troops from the country, according to a statement posted on the Internet today.

Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena, 56, was kidnapped on Friday by gunmen who blocked her car outside Baghdad University. Sgrena is a veteran reporter for the communist daily Il Manifesto.