 |
| A
video grab shows a Polish woman held hostage in Iraq October 28, 2004. A
hitherto unknown militant group says it has kidnapped the Polish woman and
is demanding Poland withdraw its forces, Al Jazeera television reported on
Thursday, but Warsaw immediately said 'no'. [Reuters] |
 |
| A
video grab shows a Polish woman held hostage in Iraq October 28,
2004. [Reuters] |
With a British-Iraqi
aid worker already in captivity, Iraq's hostage crisis has intensified amid
growing expectations of a U.S. offensive on the rebel cities of Falluja and
Ramadi.
Iraq's U.S.-backed interim government has
vowed to pacify the whole country before nationwide elections due in January.
Al Jazeera television showed a video of
an elderly woman seated between two masked men, one pointing a gun to her head.
A hitherto unknown Islamist group said
the woman was a Pole working for U.S. forces in Iraq and demanded the withdrawal
of Polish troops and the release of Iraqi women prisoners, according to the Arab
satellite channel.
Poland's defense minister said the woman
was not part of the Polish military contingent in Iraq and vowed not to bow to
her captor's terms. "Poland is not in the business of meeting the demands of
hostage takers," Jerzy Szmajdzinski said.
Kidnappers are stepping up demands for
the withdrawal of foreign troops in the U.S.-led multinational force just as the
U.S. presidential election campaign enters its final week.
Two days ago, militants led by Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi threatened to behead a young Japanese traveler within 48 hours unless
Tokyo brought its troops home. Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi
rejected the demand.
The father of 24-year-old Shosei Koda
appealed for his release on Al Jazeera. "He wasn't supporting the presence of
Japanese forces in Iraq or American policy there," he said.
Koda took a bus to Iraq from Jordan last
week despite being warned by locals of the dangers, Japanese media said.
They said the long-haired youth seemed
ill-prepared for a trip to a country where more than 150 foreigners have been
kidnapped since April and more than 35 have been killed.
Unidentified kidnappers are holding aid
worker Margaret Hassan, who has an Iraqi husband and holds Iraqi, British and
Irish citizenship. She urged Britain to pull its troops out of Iraq in a new
video aired by Al Jazeera on Thursday.
WOMEN PRISONERS
The captors of Hassan, director of the
Care International charity in Iraq, and the Polish woman have demanded that
Iraqi women prisoners be freed, echoing a plea made by a British hostage before
Zarqawi's group beheaded him this month.
Britain says it has no women prisoners in
Iraq. The U.S. military says it is only holding two women, both linked to banned
arms programs under deposed dictator Saddam Hussein.
Britain has been tight-lipped over
Hassan's plight, letting others emphasize her status as an Iraqi national and
Muslim who has lived for 30 years in her adopted country.
Many kidnappings have been linked to the
western cities of Falluja and Ramadi, where fresh fighting erupted on Thursday.
Witnesses said guerrillas in Falluja's
Hay al-Askari district fired rocket-propelled grenades and mortars at American
troops who pounded their positions with tank fire.
The clashes broke out after an overnight
air strike that residents said destroyed a building, killing two brothers.
In Ramadi, U.S. troops clashed guerrillas
who fired grenades at a U.S. base and the regional government office.
Hospital staff said two women were
wounded in an eastern area.
The U.S. military has been pounding
targets in Falluja almost daily to try to crush Zarqawi-led militants. Falluja
residents deny knowledge of the Jordanian militant's network.
To free up U.S. forces for a possible
Falluja offensive, British troops were on their way from Basra in the far south
to take over a deadly triangle of towns just south of Baghdad.
In the Iraqi capital itself, a car bomb
killed an American soldier and at least one Iraqi civilian, the military said.
Insurgents and militants have increased
violence in Iraq since the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan began in mid-October,
with some attacks, such as the weekend slaughter of 49 unarmed army recruits,
showing access to excellent intelligence.
Iraqi Defense Minister Hazim al-Shaalan
has said rebels might have infiltrated nascent security forces.
Rebels blew up an Iraqi National Guard
post in Duluiya, 90 km (65 miles) north of Baghdad, on Thursday night, police
said. The attackers seized two Guards. Two Iraqi contractors working for U.S.
forces were abducted in a separate incident.
Three civilians were killed and six
wounded in evening clashes between U.S.-led forces and insurgents in Duluiya,
said hospital staff in nearby Balad. Four Guards were wounded.
