Hostage takers demands USA release Iraqi women and men from prison

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L15579468.htm

Iraq group kidnaps Turk technician, sets demands-TV

DUBAI, June 15 (Reuters) - An Iraqi group has kidnapped a Turkish technician and demanded that Turkey withdraw its envoy from Baghdad and press for the release of Iraqi prisoners in U.S. and Iraqi jails, Al Jazeera television said on Thursday.

A video from the Imam Ali Battalion aired by the satellite station showed a middle-aged sitting next to a wall as a militant pointed an assault gun to his head. The man held up an identification card bearing the name Hasan Eskimutlu.

Al Jazeera said the group gave Turkey one week to meet its demands, which also included banning Turkish companies from transporting supplies to U.S. bases in Iraq.

"The group demanded in the video that the Turkish government pressure the Iraqi government to free Iraqi women and men from American and Iraqi prisons ... and to withdraw the Turkish ambassador from Baghdad," Al Jazeera said.