Militants in Iraq kidnap two Pakistanis, one Iraqi

Militants in Iraq said they had kidnapped two Pakistanis and one Iraqi, the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera Satellite TV reported on Monday.

The Arab-language channel sh owed identity cards with pictures which are believed to belong to the hostages.

A group calling itself the Islamic Army in Iraq said in a statement aired by the channel that the two Pakistanis had been sentenced to death because their country would probably send troops to Iraq.

On Sunday, al-Jazeera reported that two Pakistanis working for an Middle East firm had gone missing in Iraq, raising fears they might have been taken captive.

A Pakistani television channel early on Sunday identified the two as Raja Azad and Sajid Naaim and both of them are from Pakistan-administered Kashmir, the channel said.

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

Pakistani 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 allyof 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