themselves ‘Swords of the Truth’ if their demands for the release of all Iraqi prisoners were not met.
Families and supporters of Canadians James Loney, 41 and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32, US national Tom Fox, 54, and Briton Norman Kember, 74 said prayers after previous called for their release remained unanswered.
The captives are members of Christian Peacemakers Team (CPT), an international organization working for reducing conflict in crisis areas around the world. As the deadline approached, news emerged that an Egyptian man working for the US military in Iraq and captured by armed men was found shot dead.
Egyptian news agency MENA identified the man as 46-year-old Ibrahim al-Sayyid al-Hilali, who reportedly worked as a translator at a US military base, Reuters news agency said. He was found near Hajaj village, north of Tikrit, with identity papers in his pocket, Reuters reported. Police said the man was taken from his house on Friday, December 9.
EIGHTH FOREIGNER
He is the eighth foreigner seized in Iraq in the past two weeks. A German archaeologist, Susanne Osthoff, 43, and her Iraqi driver were taken hostage on 25 November followed by the four Christian aid workers the next day.
An American electrician, Ronald Schultz, who was reportedly working as a security adviser to the Iraq Housing Ministry was also taked and killed by his captors, Reuters quoted the Islamic Army of Iraq as saying on a website Saturday, December 10. The claim could not be independently verified. A French engineer was also taken in Baghdad earlier this month.
CPT said it had urged supporters not to forget that "December 10th is International Human Rights Day." It said "people of conscience around the world" should "initiate non-violent public actions for peace and for prayer between December 9 and December 11", in support for the release of the captives and "international human rights, and in support of ending war and occupation."
FAMILIES APPEAL
Family members and representatives of the group have in recent days appealed for the release of the Christian hostages on the Arabic news network Aljazeera and other stations. "We are distressed that those who have taken our friends, Harmeet, Tom, Norman and Jim, could try and bargain with their lives," stressed CPT in a recent statement.
British officials have also appealed for the kidnappers to contact them, but there was no word from the kidnappers, news reports said. In addition Sunni Arab clerics in Baghdad reportedly asked for the release of the four Christians due to their humanitarian work and condemnation of the war in Iraq.
Parts of the country continued to resemble a warzone Saturday, December 10, amid reports
that four American soldiers were killed in separate attacks in the Baghdad area Saturday, December 10, just five days before crucial national elections, which US officials hope will help stem the insurgency.
SMALL ARMS FIRE
Two of the soldiers were killed by small-arms fire southwest of the capital, the American military said in published remarks. The others reportedly died in a roadside bombing in the Sunni neighborhood of Azamiyah and by small arms fire north of the city.
Also Saturday, the US military said an American soldier was killed and 11 others were wounded the day before in a suicide car bombing in the Abu Ghraib district of western Baghdad.
At least 2,140 members of the US. military have died since the war began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press (AP) news agency count. (With reports from Iraq and Chicago).
