Captors free Turk, Jordanian and Sudanese hostages

AMMAN: Iraqi kidnappers freed three Jordanians and one Sudanese on Monday, a day after they were reported seized, said Jordan’s Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher. He told reporters in Amman that the four truck drivers had been released, but gave no details. “A short while ago the hostages were released. They are four, a Sudanese national and three Jordanians,” he told a news conference in Amman. “They were released this morning after some (mediation) efforts.” Kidnappers have released a Turkish hostage who was under threat of beheading in Iraq, after his two employers agreed to captors’ demands to stop working in the country, Al Arabiya television said. A statement purportedly from the captors of two French journalists in Iraq gave France 48 hours on Monday to accept three new conditions; agreeing to a recent truce offer by Osama Bin Laden, payment of $5 million ransom and a pledge not to get involved in Iraq. The Islamic Army of Iraq has decided to make “the following demands to release the two French hostages,” said a statement signed by the group’s “higher command” and posted on an Islamist website. agencies

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