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Backgrounder: List of foreign hostages killed or held in Iraq
www.chinaview.cn 2004-10-29 09:51:55

    BEIJING, Oct. 29 (Xinhuanet) -- A Polish woman was taken hostage by an Iraqi armed group, the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera TV channel reported on Thursday.

    The group, calling itself Abu Bakr Siddiq al-Salafiya, demandedthe withdrawal of Polish forces in Iraq and the release of all female detainees in the Abu Ghuraib prison, said the pan-Arab newsstation.

    The identity of the woman hostage was not known, but it was reported that she was a long-time worker with the US-led forces inIraq.

    The following is a list of foreign hostages known or reportedlyto have been killed or still in captivity in 2004:

    April 8 -- Canadian Mohammed Rifat is kidnapped and still missing.

    April 12 -- Jordanian Wael Mamduh is abducted in Basra and still missing.

    April 14 -- Italian guard Fabrizio Quattrocchi is killed.

    May 11 -- US civilian Nick Berg, missing since April 9, is beheaded. Militants with links to al-Qaida claim responsibility.

    June 5 -- Kuwaiti truck driver Saad Saadoun taking supplies to US troops is captured by a militant group called the Waqas IslamicBrigade and still missing.

    June 10 -- Lebanese Hussein Ali Alyan is kidnapped along with two Iraqi colleagues. Their bodies are found on a road between Fallujah and Ramadi on June 12.

    June 17 -- South Korean Kim Sun-il is kidnapped in Fallujah. Heis beheaded on June 22. His captors are militants from Jama'at al-Tawhid and Jihad.

    June 28 -- Al Jazeera shows a footage of what it claims is the killing of US soldier Keith Matthew Maupin. There is no confirmation that Maupin is the man killed.

    July 13 -- A group led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, with suspected links to al-Qaida, kills Bulgarian hostage Georgi Lazov. The body of another Bulgarian hostage, Ivailo Kepov, is found on July 22 but only identified on Aug. 11.

    July 28 -- Al-Jazeera television says Raja Azad Khan and SajjadNaeem, two Pakistanis held by a group threatening to kill them, have been executed.

    July 29 -- A militant group seizes Somali driver Ali Ahmed Mousa and threatens to behead him in 48 hours unless his Kuwaiti firm stops work in Iraq, Al-Jazeera reports.

    Aug. 5 -- The Turkish Foreign Ministry confirms that a Turkish citizen Osman Alisan is killed in Iraq. Three days ago, a web siteposts a video recording indicating that another Turkish citizen, Murat Yuce, is killed.

    Aug. 10 -- An armed group says on a videotape that it has killed Egyptian Mohammed Mutawalli.

    Aug. 24 -- An Iraqi militant group says it is holding Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni and gives Italy 48 hours to announce its pullout from Iraq. The Italian hostage is executed two days later.

    Aug. 28 -- A group calling itself the Islamic Army in Iraq claims it has kidnapped two French journalists Georges Malbrunot and Christian Chesnot, who went missing in Iraq on Aug. 20.

    Aug. 31 -- Twelve Nepalese kidnapped on Aug. 20 by the Ansar al-Sunna Army in Iraq are killed on Aug. 31.

    Sept. 5 -- The body of an Egyptian who was kidnapped in Iraq onAug. 27 is found in the northern Iraqi city of Baiji.

    Sept. 5 -- Four Jordanian drivers have been abducted in Iraq bymilitants who accuse them of working with US forces.

    Sept. 13 -- A statement from the Islamic Secret Army (ISA) saysthey have captured two Australians and two Asians. The ISA threatens to kill the hostages if Australia fails to withdraw fromIraq within 24 hours.

    Sept. 14 -- Iraqi captors release a Turkish translator held hostage since July, but Turkish media report that two Turkish truck drivers have been kidnapped near Tikrit.

    Sept. 16 -- The US Embassy confirms that two Americans and one Briton have been kidnapped in Baghdad. On Sept. 13, an armed groupsaid on a videotape that they had killed an American, and another American is reportedly killed on Sept. 21.

    Oct. 8 -- A British hostage held in Iraq by a militant group led by al-Qaida ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is killed, the pan-Arab Abu Dhabi TV reports.

    Oct. 11 -- A Turkish contractor and his Iraqi translator are beheaded by an Iraqi militant group, the Qatar-based Arabic TV channel Al Jazeera reports.

    Oct. 14 -- A Turkish driver held hostage in Iraq is beheaded byhis captors, the Army of Ansar al-Sunna, according to a footage posted on the website.

    Oct. 19 -- Margaret Hassan, director of CARE International in Iraq and a citizen of Britain, Ireland and Iraq, is kidnapped in Baghdad by an unknown group.

    Oct. 22 -- The Macedonian government confirms the death of Macedonian hostages in Iraq. The three Kumanovo (northern Macedonia) citizens -- Dalibor Lazarevski, Zoran Naskovski and Dragan Markovic -- worked for a US building company and were seized by militants in Iraq on Aug. 21.

    Oct. 27 -- A Japanese man is kidnapped by al-Qaida, which threatens to behead him within 48 hours unless Japan pulls its troops out of Iraq, Kyodo News reported. Enditem

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