Kuwaiti company claims seven employees to be freed in Iraq soon

   KUWAIT CITY, Aug. 8 (Xinhuanet) -- A Kuwaiti transport company claimed that its seven employees, who were taken hostages in Iraq last month, might be released soon, the Kuwait Times quoted a spokeswoman of the company as saying Sunday.

   Rana Abu Zaineh, spokeswoman of Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport (KGL), told the daily that the company's negotiators were in Baghdad negotiating an agreement to secure the release of the seven truck drivers kidnapped on July 21 in Iraq.

   She said the hostages could be released "in a day or two," since the kidnappers had dropped earlier demands, including halt of KGL operations in Iraq and release of Iraqi prisoners held in US detention centers.

   Zaineh noted that the kidnappings were "not a political issue but financially motivated."

   Questions of ransom have risen regarding the kidnappings, although neither KGL representatives nor mediators in Baghdad would comment on that.

   However, Iraqi tribal chief Sheikh Hisham Al-Dulaimi denied there was any agreement to release the seven hostages -- three Kenyans, three Indians and one Egyptian.

   A diplomat in Baghdad close to the kidnapping negotiation also denied claims that the hostages were to be freed soon.

   Calling themselves the "Holders of the Black Banners", the captors threatened to behead one hostage every three days if the company refused to pull out of Iraq.

   They later extended the deadline twice and none of these hostages were hitherto executed.

   Since April, there have been dozens of foreigners abducted in Iraq by militants bent on pressing foreign troops and companies to quit Iraq. Most hostages were freed, but several of them were killed, including some being beheaded.

   By using this method, militants in Iraq have up till now succeeded in driving out several foreign companies and a 51-strong Philippine contingent from the violence-rife country.  Enditem