On the two German hostage sin Iraq

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that the life of the two German hostages who were kidnapped in Iraq on Tuesday constitutes a priority for the government.

The statements made by Merkel on Friday came hours after al-Jazeera satellite TV broadcast a tape showing the two hostages for the first time since their kidnapping. The tape shows the two engineers speaking, surrounded by four masked gunmen. The al-Tawhid And Sunna group circulated the tape but did not make any requests.

For his part, German Minister of Foreign Affairs Frank-Walter Steinmeier said that his country is in contact with the kidnappers of the German citizens, but abstained from giving information on the group which kidnapped the two Germans, noting that a crisis cell follows up this issue.

Germany called on journalists to avoid predicting the possibility of a ransom being paid to release the two hostages for fears that the information will encourage more kidnappings.