2 Pakistanis feared kidnapped in Iraq: al-Jazeera

Two Pakistanis working for a Middle-East firm have gone missing in Iraq, raising fears they may have been taken captive, Qatar-based al-Jazeera satellite channel reported Sunday.

Though their capture has not yet been confirmed, a Pakistani television channel early on Sunday identified the two as Raja Azad and Sajid Naaim. Both of them are from Pakistan-administered Kashmir, the channel said.

The television channel quoted family members as saying they had lost contacts with the two.

Speculation about their whereabouts come in the wake of recent abductions of foreigners in Iraq.

Muhammad Mamduh Qutb, a senior Egyptian diplomat, was seized in Baghdad after prayers on Friday by a group calling itself "Lions of God and Lions of Islam Brigades."

A group of seven truck drivers, including three Indians, three Kenyans and one Egyptian working for a Kuwaiti firm, were also seized earlier in the week.

Pakistan, meanwhile, told the United Nations it would send troops to Iraq if the Iraqi government asked for them and other Muslim nations also sent soldiers.

Information Minister Shaikh Rashid Ahmad said President Pervez Musharraf spoke with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and discussed the Iraqi situation.

"The president made it clear that we could consider sending troops only if the request comes from the Iraqi government, other Islamic countries also do the same and our parliament approves it,"he said.

Pakistan, an Islamic nation of 150 million people, is a key ally of the United States in its war on "terror".

Islamic groups in Pakistan are, however, opposed to helping US-led occupation forces in Iraq and have threatened protests if Islamabad agrees to send troops.

Source: Xinhua