Zarqawi group threatens to kill US, British hostages

A video footage aired on the Al Jazeera television shows three hostages blindfolded, with a hooded gunman behind reading a statement, Sept. 18.

The Tawhid and Jihad group of suspected al Qaida ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has threatened to kill two US hostages and one British hostage seized in Baghdad, the Al Jazeera television said Saturday.

"The Tawhid and Jihad group has set a 48-hour deadline for the release of Iraqi female prisoners from the prisons of Abu Ghraib (outside Baghdad) and Um al-Qasr (in the south) in exchange for the release of a Briton and two Americans it kidnapped in Baghdad on Thursday," Al-Jazeera said.

The group also said in a video obtained by Al-Jazeera that it would kill the captives if its condition is not met within the deadline, the Arabic broadcaster reported.

The Qatar-based news channel showed footage of the three hostages blindfolded, with a hooded gunman behind them pointing a machine-gun at their heads.

US nationals Jack Hensley and Eugene "Jack" Armstrong and British engineer Kenneth Bigley were taken hostage by gunmen from their house in Baghdad's Mansour district.

Source: Xinhua