Special Forces Free Four Foreign Hostages in Iraq
Tue Jun 8, 2004 09:20 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.j...toryID=5372191
MILAN, Italy (Reuters) - Special Forces from the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq Tuesday freed three Italian hostages held for almost two months and a Pole abducted a week ago, authorities and the military said.
The three Italian hostages are in good physical condition, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said.
"They were freed about one and a half hours ago by coalition forces near Baghdad. There was no bloodshed. The boys are on their way to the airport now," Frattini said on state television.
He said no deal had been cut for the hostages' release.
The commander of Polish troops in Iraq said coalition Special Forces freed the four, including Jerzy Kos, manager of Polish company Jedynka, who was seized on June 1.
"Thanks to coalition special forces, the Polish citizen... was freed along with three other captives of Italian nationality," General Mieczyslaw Bieniek told private Polish station TVN 24.
Four Italians working for a U.S. security firm were abducted on April 12 near Baghdad.
One of them was shot dead after Italy refused to bow to demands to withdraw its 2,700 troops from Iraq. Footage of the other three was shown on Arabic satellite channel Al Jazeera last week. One of them said they were being treated well.
Al Jazeera also aired a statement from the kidnappers, calling themselves the Green Battalion, urging Italian people to demonstrate against the policies of the United States and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
Masked gunmen seized two Polish and five Iraqi staff from Polish company Jedynka's offices near Baghdad a week ago. One Pole escaped but Kos had remained captive.
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