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Al-Qaeda in Iraq releases Sudanese hostages
The five employees of the Sudanese Embassy in Baghdad returned home Wednesday, after their kidnappers released them as part of a deal with their government, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.Sudan procured the release of the five after it agreed to close its embassy in Baghdad as the kidnapping group, al Qaeda in Iraq, had demanded. The five hostages -- who included the embassy's second secretary, Abdel-Moneim Mohammed el-Toum -- were reported kidnapped on December 24 and freed on Sunday. They returned to Khartoum via Jordan. A sixth Sudanese, who was initially reported kidnapped, managed to escape, the Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday. The man, a friend of the embassy personnel, is believed to have remained in Iraq. Al Qaeda in Iraq had set a deadline of December 31 for killing the hostages unless Sudan publicly declared it would sever relations with Baghdad. Al Qaeda in Iraq has kidnapped and killed a string of Arab diplomats and embassy employees in a campaign to intimidate Arab governments from restoring full diplomatic relations with Iraq. Posted by: Dan Darling 2006-01-05 |
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