scm77
04-08-2004, 06:23 PM
Canadian among those taken hostage in Iraq
CTV.ca News Staff
A Canadian humanitarian worker is among a number of hostages seized in Iraq, Foreign Affairs spokesman Reynald Doiron said Thursday.
"We are currently seeking his release," Doiron said.
The hostage, Fadi Ihsan Fadel, was working for the New York-based relief group International Rescue Committee when he was seized early Wednesday morning. It's believed either the Moqtada as-Sadr's militia or the Jeesh al-Mehdi militia is responsible.
Doiron said Fadel, who was born in Syria, was originally identified as an Israeli Arab but that this is not correct.
Three Japanese, seven South Koreans and a Briton were also reported taken hostage.
The Koreans were later freed.
The three Japanese hostages, two men and one woman, are shown in a video aired Thursday by Arab television network, Al Jazeera. They are shown kneeling with their eyes bound with white cloth, surrounded by masked men pointing knives and swords.
The three have been identified as two journalists and an aid worker. Their passports were shown in the video to confirm their nationality.
The captors threaten to burn the hostages to death in three days unless Tokyo pulls its troops out of Iraq.
Japan has no plans to withdraw, declared a government spokesman later in the day, as he demanded in turn that the hostages be released.
The group involved was previously unknown and is reportedly called Saraya al-Mujahideen (Mujahideen Brigades). In a statement made in Arabic, the group said Japan had betrayed Iraqis through its support of the U.S.-led invasion and occupation.
"We tell you that three of your children have fallen prisoner in our hands and we give you two options -- withdraw your forces from our country and go home or we will burn them alive and feed them to the fighters," it said.
Japan's prime minister was a staunch backer of the U.S.-led invasion. Japan has 530 ground troops in Iraq in a non-combatant role with plans to boost that to 1,000. They are working on reconstruction projects.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda called the abductions "unforgivable'' and said they did not justify a Japanese withdrawal.
The Koreans seized, all members of an evangelical Presbyterian church, were accosted Thursday by a group of gunmen on a road just north of the capital. One escaped, and the remaining seven were blindfolded and taken to a house.
The kidnappers accused them of being members of the CIA. "They kept saying to us -- 'Korea is allied with the United States, we are going to kill you'," hostage Hong Kwang-chun told *******.
They were held for around five hours, they said, before being driven back to the outskirts of the capital, unharmed.
South Korea has 600 military engineers and medics in Iraq. It has plans to send 3,000 more, although the new deployment will work in the northern Kurdish area.
With news of the capture, South Korea's National Security Council called a meeting Friday to review the escalating violence.
Article (http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1081427053707_15/?hub=TopStories)
CTV.ca News Staff
A Canadian humanitarian worker is among a number of hostages seized in Iraq, Foreign Affairs spokesman Reynald Doiron said Thursday.
"We are currently seeking his release," Doiron said.
The hostage, Fadi Ihsan Fadel, was working for the New York-based relief group International Rescue Committee when he was seized early Wednesday morning. It's believed either the Moqtada as-Sadr's militia or the Jeesh al-Mehdi militia is responsible.
Doiron said Fadel, who was born in Syria, was originally identified as an Israeli Arab but that this is not correct.
Three Japanese, seven South Koreans and a Briton were also reported taken hostage.
The Koreans were later freed.
The three Japanese hostages, two men and one woman, are shown in a video aired Thursday by Arab television network, Al Jazeera. They are shown kneeling with their eyes bound with white cloth, surrounded by masked men pointing knives and swords.
The three have been identified as two journalists and an aid worker. Their passports were shown in the video to confirm their nationality.
The captors threaten to burn the hostages to death in three days unless Tokyo pulls its troops out of Iraq.
Japan has no plans to withdraw, declared a government spokesman later in the day, as he demanded in turn that the hostages be released.
The group involved was previously unknown and is reportedly called Saraya al-Mujahideen (Mujahideen Brigades). In a statement made in Arabic, the group said Japan had betrayed Iraqis through its support of the U.S.-led invasion and occupation.
"We tell you that three of your children have fallen prisoner in our hands and we give you two options -- withdraw your forces from our country and go home or we will burn them alive and feed them to the fighters," it said.
Japan's prime minister was a staunch backer of the U.S.-led invasion. Japan has 530 ground troops in Iraq in a non-combatant role with plans to boost that to 1,000. They are working on reconstruction projects.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda called the abductions "unforgivable'' and said they did not justify a Japanese withdrawal.
The Koreans seized, all members of an evangelical Presbyterian church, were accosted Thursday by a group of gunmen on a road just north of the capital. One escaped, and the remaining seven were blindfolded and taken to a house.
The kidnappers accused them of being members of the CIA. "They kept saying to us -- 'Korea is allied with the United States, we are going to kill you'," hostage Hong Kwang-chun told *******.
They were held for around five hours, they said, before being driven back to the outskirts of the capital, unharmed.
South Korea has 600 military engineers and medics in Iraq. It has plans to send 3,000 more, although the new deployment will work in the northern Kurdish area.
With news of the capture, South Korea's National Security Council called a meeting Friday to review the escalating violence.
Article (http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1081427053707_15/?hub=TopStories)