BAGHDAD, July 29: Kidnappers holding seven foreign drivers hostage in Iraq threatened to "slaughter" one of them on Friday if there was no answer to their demands, showing an Indian captive wearing orange clothing to make their point.
In a videotape given to foreign news organizations on Thursday, the guerillas did not say which hostage among three Indians, three Kenyans and one Egyptian they were threatening to kill by 7:00pm (0800pm PST) on Friday. But the footage showed a masked man pointing an M-16 automatic rifle at the head of one of the Indian hostages, who sat on the floor, sweating and looking very afraid.
"If no one responds to us, we will slaughter one of the hostages on Friday, July 30 at 7:00pm," said a voice on the tape, adding the group had decided the hostages were fighters supporting the US military in Iraq.
Kidnappers in Iraq have repeatedly dressed hostages in orange before killing them, usually by beheading. The clothing mimics the orange jumpsuits worn by prisoners in US detention facilities, including Muslim inmates at Guantanamo Bay.
The seven truck drivers work for the Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport company, which has said it is in talks to secure the release of the drivers, who were seized more than a week ago.
The kidnappers have demanded the firm pull out of Iraq, where guerillas have stepped up a campaign of hostage-taking to force foreign troops and firms to leave. The company has said it would do all it could to free the men.
On Thursday, a Somali driver was seized by a militant group linked to Al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and threatened with beheading unless his Kuwaiti employer stopped operating in Iraq.
The latest kidnapping came hours after two Pakistanis were killed by their captors, who had demanded their employer withdraw. The seven drivers are being held by a little-known group calling itself the "Black Banners" brigade of the Islamic Secret Army. It had previously extended a deadline to execute the men.
On the tape, the voice said the Kuwaiti firm and embassies had ignored "humanitarian" efforts by a mediator to free the men. None of the three nations involved have troops in Iraq. -Reuters
