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Iraq al Qaeda posts video of Algerian diplomats-Web

Posted on: Tuesday, 26 July 2005, 11:18 CDT

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iraq's al Qaeda group posted a video of two kidnapped Algerian diplomats on Tuesday, after it vowed to kill them, according to an Internet posting.

The video showed two blindfolded men. One of them identified himself as Ali Belaroussi, the chief of the Algerian mission. "I live in the capital Algiers," he said. The other man said he was Azzedine Belkadi.

A statement from Al Qaeda in Iraq accompanying the video, which showed no militants, said their "confessions" would be posted soon.

Al Qaeda, led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, has said it would kill the two diplomats and said this would be "the fate of the ambassadors and the envoys of all infidel governments."

Algerian minister of state without portfolio Bouguerra Soltani said the government was hopeful of a positive outcome.

"We are still expecting a happy ending. I'm still hopeful," Soltani told a news conference in Algiers.

"We have taken action. We are doing this work secretly. We have sent a delegation to Iraq ... and made contacts with all influential parties that could do something to secure the release of our diplomats," he added.

Guerrilla strikes have driven diplomats from the Iraqi capital, undermining the U.S.-backed government's efforts to gain support among Arab countries.

On Monday Algeria pulled its last diplomatic staff out of its embassy in Baghdad.

(Additional reporting by Hamid Ould Ahmed in Algiers)

Source: REUTERS

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