Kidnappers give Allawi 48 hours to halt assault on Fallujah
www.chinaview.cn 2004-11-10 21:23:54
BAGHDAD, Nov. 10 (Xinhuanet) -- A militant group kidnapping three family members of Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi threatened on Wednesday to kill them if Allawi doesn't order a withdrawal from the besieged Fallujah.
In a statement, the group known to be Ansar al-Jihad (Partisans of Holy War) claimed responsibility for the abduction and threatened to behead the three if Allawi fails to meet its demands in 48 hours.
"We demand the agent government liberate all the prisoners in Iraq, women and men, and lift the siege over Fallujah and stop the military action against the city," said the previously unknown group.
The authenticity of the statement, published on a website, could not be verified independently.
Earlier reports said that a first cousin of Allawi, the cousin's wife and his daughter-in-law were kidnapped on Tuesday evening from their house in Baghdad.
Three cars with at least six men inside pulled up to the house in Baghdad's southern district of Al-Kadisiya, from where they took Ghazi Allawi and his two family members, an official source was quoted as saying.
