BAGHDAD, June 27 (Xinhuanet) -- An unknown armed group held a Pakistani hostage and threatened to behead him if prisoners detained in Iraq are not released in three days, Arabiya news channel reported on Sunday.

    "You must release our prisoners held in the US base in Balad, Dujail, Yathrib, Samarra and Abu Ghraib and you have three days from now on and after that we will behead him," said the group.

    The Pakistani, a driver working with the US-led coalition and entering Iraq from Kuwait, was taken hostage near Balad in northern Iraq, mentioned the group.

    In another video footage aired by the channel, the hostage, identified himself as Amjed, urged Pakistani President Parvez Musharraf to close down the Pakistani embassy in Iraq.

    "I don't know who they are or what they demand, but I warn all Pakistani citizens off Iraq because these guys are very dangerous,"said the man.

    The Pakistani was the latest known foreign hostage with links to the US-led occupation forces kidnapped in Iraq.

    Militants who beheaded two foreign hostages in Iraq claimed they had kidnapped three Turkish workers and would kill them unless the Turkish government withdraws its companies from Iraq, al-Jazeera television, another Arab news channel, reported on Saturday.

    Groups purportedly led by Abu Mosab Al-Zarqawi kidnapped and beheaded American businessman Nicholas Berg in May and South Korean hostage Kim Sun-il this week.

    Over 40 people from various countries have been abducted in Iraq since April. Enditem