Occupation agrees to change al-Mahdi army to a political organization, one Italian hostage is killed in Iraq
Iraq-USA, Politics, 4/15/2004

A group calling itself the "Green contingent" announced it had killed one of the four Italians held by it. In a statement, the group said it killed him to be a lesson to whom may concern, threatening the killing of the other three Italian hostages, one by one, unless its demands are met.

The group which was not known before had kidnapped the four Italians. The Rome government said they are working for an American security company and the group set a precondition for their release the commitment of the occupation forces to withdraw from Iraq and to put a schedule for that.

The group called on the Italian prime minister Sylvio Berleskony to apologize over what it called damaging Islam and releasing of mosques preachers and Imams detained in Iraq. However, Berleskony considered withdrawal of his forces from Iraq as unacceptable.

In Amman, one parliamentarian in the Japanese opposition announced that two new Japanese, one is a journalist were kidnapped in Iraq. A group calling itself " Saraya al-Mujahideen" holds three Japanese hostages and refuse to release them because of the cling of the Japanese prime minister to keep his forces in southern Iraq.

On the other hand, the French journalist who was kidnapped in Iraq was released yesterday in Baghdad. news reports said he is at the headquarters of the Muslim Scholars commission. Alexander Jordanov was filming a documentary for tv " Canal Plus" when he was kidnapped last Sunday. France which opposed the invasion of Iraq called on its citizens to leave the country after the increase of foreigners kidnapping operations.

The EU commissioner Romano Prodi condemned holding hostages in Iraq. He said that peace can not be achieved in Iraq without better relations between the European Union and the US. Prodi, who visits China, said that the results of the war against Iraq are reflecting on all. However, a spokesman for the coalition forces said on Tuesday in Baghdad that there are 40 hostages from 12 countries in Iraq.

In a later development, news reports in al-Najaf said quoting the spokesman for the Shiite clergy Muqtada al-Sader, Sheikh Qeis al-Khaz'ali that the negotiators with the American forces notified him of the consent of the occupation forces to change al-Mahdi army to an unarmed political organization, according to al-Sader's proposal. Al-Khaz'ali explained that the occupation forces agreed to withdraw from the residential areas and to release the detainees. The issues of detaining Muqtada al-Sader was settled in a way that he will not surrender himself to the Iraqi judiciary.

Previous Stories:
  Human rights Watch asks for investigating al-Falujja massacres   (4/14/2004)
  Occupation ends Falujja truce, bombards the city by planes   (4/14/2004)
  Some 700 Iraqis killed, 1250 wounded in Falouja only in one week, Syria and Iran are accused of works that does not help stability   (4/13/2004)

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