Australia sends emergency team to Iraq

Australia today formed a team of diplomats, defence staff and police who will attempt to free an engineer seized by Iraqi insurgents, but the government had a blunt message for the kidnappers: Australia will not remove its troops from Iraq or pay any ransom.

In a tape obtained by Associated Press Television News on Sunday, a man identified himself as Douglas Wood, 63, an Australian working in Iraq, and appealed for the withdrawal of US-led troops. Two people wearing masks pointed automatic weapons at him.