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Governor of Iraqi province kidnapped
 Fighters have kidnapped the governor of Iraq's western Anbar province and told his family he will be released when US forces withdraw from al-Qaim, the site of a major new offensive against followers of Iraq's most wanted fighter, relatives say. Governor Raja Nawaf Farhan al-Mahalawi was seized as he drove from al-Qaim to the provincial capital of Ramadi on Tuesday morning, his brother, Hammad, told The Associated Press. The kidnappers later telephoned the family and said they were holding the governor until US forces pull out of the Syrian border town, about 320km west of Baghdad, Hammad Nawaf Farhan al-Mahalawi said."The kidnappers have demanded that American forces leave al-Qaim in order to release him," he said. US forces are conducting one of their largest offensives in six months in the remote desert region, believed to be a haven for followers of Jordanian-born leader of al-Qaida in the Land of Two Rivers, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Posted by: Fred 2005-05-11 |
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