CAIRO, Jan. 17 (Xinhuanet) -- The abductors of a female journalist have threatened to kill her if the United States does not meet their conditions, the Qatar-based Arabic TV network al-Jazeera reported on Tuesday.

    The threat was made in a brief video aired by the television, showing the U.S. journalist speaking to the camera, without broadcasting her voice.

    According to the report, the abductors have asked Washington to free Iraqi women prisoners within 72 hours before a release of the journalist.

    The American female journalist was kidnapped and the body of her Iraqi interpreter found near a mosque in Baghdad on Jan. 7. An Iraqi Interior Ministry source told Xinhua that day that the U.S. journalist was kidnapped in Baghdad's western Adel district while unknown gunmen attacked her car when she headed to make an interview with Adnan al-Dulaimi, head of the Iraqi Consensus Front, a Sunni Arab political body.

    Her Iraqi Christian interpreter was killed at the occasion and the body was found near the mosque of Malik Bin Anas in the district, said the source on condition of anonymity.

    It was reported that a number of Westerners are now held hostage by kidnappers in Iraq, including an American, a British and two Canadians, all members of a Christian peace group. Enditem