This is an image taken from an Arab Satellite TV channel of two of four peace activists taken hostage in Iraq and broadcast Tuesday Nov. 29, 2005. (Photo: Xinhua/REUTERS)

    BEIJING, Nov. 30 (Xinhuanet)-- On an al-Jazeera video released Tuesday by an insurgent group calling itself the Swords of Righteousness Brigade, hostages were accused of being spies. The release marks an end to the lull in the kidnapping of westerners in Iraq.

    A UK professor Kember was snatched in Baghdad on Saturday along with two Canadians and an American, according to the British Foreign Office. Kember is believed to be in his 70s and was said to be representing a number of humanitarian aid groups.

    The videotape showed Mr Kember and three colleagues sitting side by side, along with Mr Kember's passport.

    "We can confirm his name but we cannot give any more details at this stage," the Foreign Office was quoted by the BBC as saying.

    The US embassy in Iraq also confirmed on Monday of the abduction of an American civilian, but didn't reveal the identity of the citizen.  

::::::	Video released on hostages in Iraq: al-Jazeera
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::::::	Gunmen kidnap Saddam Hussein's relative
::::::	6 Iranian pilgrims kidnapped in northern Iraq
::::::	US embassy confirms kidnapping of American in Iraq
::::::	4 Westerners kidnapped in Iraq
::::::	German woman kidnapped in Iraq: report
::::::	Merkel strongly condemns kidnapping of German woman in Iraq

    Their abduction followed the kidnapping of Susanne Osthoff, a German archaeologist missing since Friday. In another videotape broadcast yesterday, unidentified kidnappers threatened to kill Ms Osthoff unless the German government stopped co-operating with Iraq's US-backed government.

    German Chancellor Angela Merkel strongly condemned the abduction of Susanne Osthoff and her driver, urging the kidnappers to release them.

    "The German government condemns this in the strongest terms. We send an urgent appeal to the perpetrators to release the two to safety immediately," Merkel told reporters after an emergency cabinet meeting on Tuesday. She pledged that Germany would make all efforts to secure the safe return of the woman and her driver.

    In a separate incident, unknown gunmen has abducted a former army officer and relative of the toppled Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in Tikrit, some 170 km north of Baghdad.

    "Dhafir Hardan al-Hazzaa was abducted Monday night by armed men from his house in Tikrit," a source at the joint US and Iraqi coordination center in Tikrit told Xinhua on Tuesday.

    Meanwhile, two Iranian Shiite pilgrims and an Iraqi female guide were released north of Baghdad shortly after they were taken hostage by gunmen Monday night.

    "Two Iranian Shiite pilgrims and an Iraqi female guide were released and found near the place where they were kidnapped Monday night," a source of US-Iraqi coordination office in Tikrit told Xinhua.

    The three were safe, the source said, quoting them as saying they were released shortly after their abduction Monday night.

    Earlier, the office said gunmen opened fire at a minibus and kidnapped four men and two women Iranian Shiite pilgrims in the town of Balad, some 80 km north of Baghdad.

    Since the US-led invasion in 2003, more than 200 foreigners have been kidnapped and 52 of them are known to have been executed since 2004. Enditem

    (Agencies)