IRAQ: An Iraqi group which says it is holding an Italian journalist hostage said yesterday it would free her if Italy announced within 48 hours that it would withdraw its troops from Iraq, according to a statement on the internet.
"We give the Italian government 48 hours to announce its withdrawal from Iraq as a condition for the release of the Italian hostage Giuliana Sgrena," the Jihad Organisation said in an internet posting.
It was not possible to verify the statement, which like previous statements on Sgrena appeared first on a site not used by the main Iraqi rebel groups. The claim was not accompanied by a picture or video of the captive or any identification papers.
The group, which also uses the name Islamic Jihad Organisation, last Friday set a 72-hour deadline for Italy to remove its troops to secure Sgrena's release. On Sunday it said it would kill her after 48 hours if its demands were not met.
Another web statement purportedly from the same group said on Monday it would release her soon because she was not a spy. Sgrena, a journalist with the communist Rome newspaper Il Manifesto - which strongly opposed the US-led invasion of Iraq - was kidnapped as she conducted interviews near Baghdad University last Friday.
Meanwhile, al-Qaeda's deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri has said elections held under foreign occupation are a sham. The statement was made in an audio tape attributed to him and broadcast about two weeks after US-occupied Iraq held landmark elections.
