The US military has released a prominent Shia insurgent in Iraq as part of a complex negotiation that could lead to the freeing of five British men kidnapped in Baghdad more than two years ago.
One of the Britons could be released as early as today, according to an unnamed Iraqi source quoted in The New York Times.
Laith al-Khazali, who was freed on Sunday, is a member of Asaib al-Haq (League of the Righteous), an Iranian-backed group that is holding Peter Moore, a computer consultant, and his four security guards hostage.
The group is also accused of killing five US soldiers in a separate attack.
Lieutenant-Colonel Brian Maka, a US military spokesman, told the newspaper: “As part of a reconciliation effort between the Government of Iraq and Asaib al-Haq, the decision has been made to release Laith Khazali.
“Asaib al-Haq has pledged to representatives of the Iraqi Prime Minister to give up violence and move the group towards peaceful integration into Iraqi society.
“An unconditional ceasefire will be undertaken by the group.”
The United States refused to confirm any link to the release of the hostages, but The New York Times quoted two Shia leaders as saying that it was the first stage of a deal that could lead to the freeing of the five Britons.
Qais al-Khazali, Laith’s brother, remains in US detention. His release has been the main demand of the hostage-takers along with that of Ali Mousawi al-Daqdouq, a veteran of Lebanon’s Hezbollah. The group wants a total of ten detainees to be freed.
A senior figure close to Hojatoleslam Moqtada al-Sadr, the influential Shia cleric, told The New York Times that a British hostage would be freed within two days of Mr Khazali’s release. There might also be an agreement to swap one detained member of Asaib al-Haq for each kidnapped Briton.
A comment on the news was not immediately available from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Mr Khazali apparently went into hiding in Sadr City, a Shia slum in the heart of Baghdad, after his release.
The development came just over a week after David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, made a fresh appeal for the freeing of Mr Moore, 35, and the guards — identified as two Jasons, Alan and Alec.
The families also made emotional statements about their loved-ones.
The seven-year-old daughter of one of the two men called Jason wrote her father a letter, scribbling red and blue hearts around the border of the page.
The letter read: “To Daddy — I miss you very much, we all want you to come home. I love you very much. When you come back I will give you the biggest huge hug. We will never give up until you come home. I love you and miss you so much. Lots of kisses, Maddi.”
Up to 40 gunmen seized the five Britons from a Finance Ministry building in Baghdad on May 29, 2007. They are the longest-held British hostages since the Beirut kidnap crisis in the 1980s
Source:The times
search the web
Custom Search
