Two German hostages in Iraq appeared in a videotape aired by the Qatar-based al-Jazeera television on Tuesday.

BERLIN, Feb. 1 (Xinhuanet) -- The German Foreign Ministry's crisis team met here Wednesday to analyse a video in which a 72-hour execution ultimatum was given to the German government concerning two German engineers abducted in Iraq last week.

    The Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier will inform the cabinet of their findings after the meeting, according to a spokesman for DPA, a German news agency.

    In the video, which was aired on al-Jazeera Tuesday night, the kidnappers threatened to kill the two German men within 72 hours unless Germany closes its embassy in Baghdad, the Iraqi capital, and withdraws all companies from the country.

    The foreign ministry did not disclose when the ultimatum will run out, but as the video was dated on Jan. 29, Wednesday could bethe deadline.

    The video, the second aired after the abduction, showed a scene with Rene Braeunlich and Thomas Nitzschke, flanked by masked kidnappers, crouching on the ground.

    Both men are engineers working for a Leipzig company, Cryotec,and were abducted on Jan. 24 near the Baiji oil refinery compound by armed men in military uniform.

    The first video, aired on Al Jazeera three days after their abduction, pictured Braeunlich and Nitzschke calling on the German government to work for their release.

    The kidnappers claim to belong to a group calling itself Ansaral-Tawhid wa al-Sunnah (Brigades of Followers of the Holy Unity and Example of the Prophet), reports said.

    Both German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Steinmeier have vowed to do everything possible to save the lives of the hostages.

    The abduction was the second involving German nationals in Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion of the oil-rich country. Aid worker and archaeologist Susanne Osthoff was abducted in Baghdad in November and released three weeks later.

    The German government has denied news reports saying that her release came after it had paid a ransom. Enditem