ROME, Sept. 12 (Xinhuanet) -- A group claiming to be holding two kidnapped female Italian aid workers has issued a new ultimatum demanding that the government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi order the withdrawal of all Italian forces deployed in Iraq, Italian media reported on Sunday.

    The group, which calls itself the Islamic Jihad, warned that if their demands were not met, then "we will execute the sentence of God which will be to slit the throats of the two Italian hostages,if God will it."

    The ultimatum was posted on the Yaislah.org website and also made reference to a previous ultimatum which gave the Italian government 12 hours to have all female Muslim prisoners in Iraq released from jail.

    The group also said that the kidnapping of the two Italian aid workers was the direct result of the actions of the Italian contingent in Iraq and that no alternative was acceptable to the the withdrawal of these troops.

    Simona Pari, Simona Torretta and two Iraqi aid workers, a man and a woman, were kidnapped by armed gunmen in Baghdad on Tuesday afternoon.

    Pari and Torretta, both 29, were seized from the Baghdad office of an Italian aid organization called A Bridge to Baghdad along with two Iraqis. Enditem