Group claims responsibility for holding three Romania hostages

An unidentified Iraqi group claimed responsibility for kidnapping the three Romanian journalists but demanded no conditions to release them.

One undated video tape broadcast by al-Jazeera TV showed two men directing their weapons at a group of three men who introduced themselves in names, while the identity of a fourth man presumed to be an American was not disclosed.

Washington said that one of its citizens was missing in Iraq in the same date when the Romanian journalists disappeared. The Romanian press said that he is an American businessman of Iraqi origin.

Concerning armed operations, during the past 24 hours, some 15 persons were killed in confrontations between the Iraqi forces and Iraqi gunmen, while the American army announced the killing of one of its soldiers in a collision of his vehicle in a land mine in al-Anbar governorate.

Six Iraqis were killed when gunmen opened fire at American soldiers to the north of Musil including one woman and one child. News reports said that 8 policemen were killed and other three injured in an attack against their patrol in Soumer to the south east of Musil city.