Terrorists Release Seven Hostages
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BAGHDAD, Iraq – Kidnappers released two female Italian aid workers and five other hostages yesterday, raising hopes for at least 18 foreigners still in captivity. But insurgents showed no sign of easing their blood-soaked campaign against the American presence in Iraq, staging a show of defiance in Samarra and striking twice with deadly force in Basra.
It was unclear what prompted the two separate groups of kidnappers to release the Italians, three Egyptians, and two Iraqis, and whether any ransom had been paid. It was the second day in a row that foreigners were freed.
The Italian women were wearing full black veils that revealed only their eyes as they were received by the Italian Red Cross in a Baghdad neighborhood, according to video broadcast by the Arab news station Al Jazeera.
Looking dazed but smiling, Simona Torretta lifted her veil and repeated, “Thank you,” in Arabic. Simona Pari hesitated before also lifting her veil.
Later yesterday, the two women were flown home aboard a Falcon 20 plane, arriving at a military airport in Rome shortly after 11 p.m. The two, now in long, white dresses, emerged smiling and held hands as they walked on the tarmac, their relatives by their side.
Asked by reporters how she felt, Ms. Pari just said, “Good.”
Ms. Pari and Ms. Torretta were abducted September 7 in a bold raid on the Baghdad office of their aid agency “Un Ponte Per …” (“A Bridge To …”). Two Iraqis, Raad Ali Aziz and Mahnaz Bassam, were also seized; they too were released yesterday.
News of the release came after a Muslim leader from Italy met with an influential Muslim association in Baghdad yesterday to press for their freedom, though it was not immediately known if there was a connection. The two women, both 29, had been working on school and water projects in Iraq.
The Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Rai al-Aam had reported yesterday that they could be released by Friday in return for a $1 million ransom. But Al-Arabiya TV, citing unidentified sources involved in the negotiations, said no ransom was paid.
Prime Minister Berlusconi went before Parliament to announce their release. “Finally a moment of joy,” Mr. Berlusconi said, as the assembly broke into applause.
Four Egyptian telecommunications workers abducted last week were also freed, their parent company, Orascom, announced in Cairo. One of the Egyptians was released Monday and the rest yesterday, said the company. Two other Egyptian employees remain in captivity.
The Egyptian charge d’affaires in Baghdad, Farouq Mabrouk, said the kidnappings were “motivated by financial reasons.” But an Orascom spokesman declined to comment on whether a ransom had been paid.
More than 140 foreigners have been kidnapped in Iraq – some by anti-American terrorists and others by criminals seeking ransom. At least 26 have been killed, including two Americans whose beheadings were recorded on grisly video footage and posted on the Internet last week.
A Western official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said this week’s back-to-back releases raised hopes for those still in captivity, including British hostage Kenneth Bigley, who was captured with the two Americans who were later beheaded from their Baghdad house on September 16. But with so many different groups involved in the kidnappings, the diplomat cautioned against drawing any conclusion.
A man identified as a French negotiator told Al-Arabiya that he has met two French journalists held hostage here for over a month and secured a promise for their release. He did not give a time frame, and said there was no demand for ransom.
Negotiators were also able to secure a promise from the kidnappers “to make an audiotape in which they announce the imminent release of the two,” said the man, identified by the station as Philippe Brett.
A French foreign ministry spokesman in Paris, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “We do not have any knowledge of the accord mentioned on Al-Arabiya.”
In a statement posted on a discussion board of the Iraq Islamic Army, the kidnappers of the journalists praised France’s “positive steps toward the Iraqi people,” a sign that the hostage takers may be softening their anti-French position.
Meanwhile, dozens of masked gunmen carrying flags of Iraq’s most feared terror group drove down the main street of the central city of Samarra in a show of strength yesterday for the first time since American troops briefly entered the central city this month under a deal brokered with tribal leaders.
The terrorists, loyal to terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, stopped some cars, asking the occupants to hand over music tapes in exchange for ones with recitations from the Muslim holy book, the Koran.
Mr. al-Zarqawi’s Tawhid and Jihad group has claimed responsibility for a series of bombings and kidnappings, including those of Mr. Bigley and the two slain Americans, Eugene Armstrong and Jack Hensley. Intelligence reports indicate the Al Qaeda-linked group has been forced to reorganize its leadership, the military said in a statement.
On a day that saw attacks scattered across the country, insurgents ambushed a British military convoy near the comparatively peaceful southern city of Basra, killing two soldiers, the Ministry of Defense in London said.
Also in Basra on yesterday, gunmen killed five members of Iraq’s intelligence agency as they were returning a civilian rescued from kidnappers to his family, said Major Jasim al-Darraji, an intelligence officer.
In Baghdad, American troops and insurgents clashed yesterday along central Haifa Street, an Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman said, and heavy explosions rocked the city. There was no immediate word on casualties.