Four marines killed in Iraq, al-Qaida to execute Algerian diplomats

The US defense department on Tuesday evening announced the killing of four of its troops in northwest Baghdad on Monday in an explosion targeting their vehicle. The department gave no details about the incident.

This came amid the escalation of the crisis of kidnapping the Algerian diplomats in Iraq after al-Jihad Qaida organization in Iraq announced in a statement on the Internet they will be executed today.

While the Iraqi police announced that the security department arrested two persons suspected to have links to the kidnapping operation, the Algerian minister of state Abdul Aziz Balkhadem and the personal representative for the Algerian President Abdul Aziz Butaflika announced that the Algerian authorities used all "means to gain the freedom of the two Algerian diplomats." Balkhadem explained that his country's government carried out contacts with the government and tribal leaders, noting that the contacts are not limited to "diplomatic channels," but gave no further details.