Roundup: China calls for early release of eight kidnapped nationals

China appealed for an early and safe release of eight kidnapped Chinese citizens on Friday while violence continued in Iraq.

The Chinese government has warned for many times its nationals against traveling to Iraq, Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan told reporters in Beijing.

Earlier, reports said the kidnappers, who threatened to kill the eight Chinese workers, asked the Chinese government to ban its nationals from entering Iraq.

In response, Kong said, "What I want to stress is that the Chinese government has previously issued warnings for many times, urging its nationals not to travel to Iraq."

The eight Chinese were kidnapped when they were leaving Iraq and should be released in safety as soon as possible, he said.

Kong added that China's Foreign Ministry and the embassy in Iraq are continuing rescue efforts.

He said Yang Honglin, Chinese ambassador to Iraq, informed the ministry that the embassy was continuing rescue efforts through various connections and channels.

On Friday afternoon, Li Huaxin, vice-director of the ministry's department of West Asia and North Africa, accepted an interview of the pan-Arab al-Jazeera TV station.

He asked the kidnappers to release the hostages as soon as possible on the basis of humanitarianism, Islamic tolerance spirit and Chinese people's friendship with the Iraqi people.

In Baghdad, the Chinese embassy said in a statement that it "had more than once warned Chinese citizens against coming to Iraq individually."

"The eight kidnapped people are ordinary Chinese citizens who traveled to Iraq for job opportunities," the statement said. "They worked in a garment factory in the city of Najaf, and they were only trying to raise their families like many Iraqis do."

"After their contracts expired, they rented a car to leave Iraq for home ahead of the Chinese Spring Festival, the most important festival for Chinese like Eid al-Adha (the feast of sacrifice) for Muslims," it added.

"For the sake of friendship between the Iraqi and Chinese peoples and from the humanitarian point of view, the Chinese side calls for the release of the kidnapped workers so that they can return to China and reunite with their families as soon as possible," the statement said.

As China appeals for the release of its citizens, violence continued in Iraq.

On Friday, a car bomb blew up outside a Shiite Muslim mosque in southwestern Baghdad, killing at least 14 people and wounding 29 others, the police said.

The blast took place outside the al-Taf mosque as many Shiites were observing the ceremony of Eid al-Adha.

The Shiite community hold their ceremony Friday, a day after the Sunni Muslims in Iraq and elsewhere in the world.

It was the second attack on a Shiite mosque in Baghdad this week.

On Wednesday, a series of car bombings hit the capital, with one of them taking place near a Shiite mosque just before the noon prayers. No worshippers were hurt in that blast.

Iraqi officials and Shiite leaders have blamed the attacks on militants and accused them of trying to drive the country toward civil war.

Another car bomb exploded on Friday in a town just south of the capital, causing several casualties at a wedding party, police and survivors said.

In the restive town of Ramadi, a group of insurgents beheaded an Iraqi soldier in broad daylight. The body, still dressed in army fatigues, was left in the street with a note warning other Iraqi troops to quit.

A video tape posted on the Internet by the al-Qaida-linked insurgent group led by Jordanian militant Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi also showed two other Iraqis being beheaded. The militants said the soldiers worked at a US base.

The group warned in a statement that this would be the fate of those who "sold their religion and honor for the pleasures of life.

" Source: Xinhua