Iraq kidnappers demand Germany quit Afghanistan

DUBAI, Mar 10 (Reuters) A little-known Iraqi Islamist militant group today said it would kill two hostages, a German woman and her son, in 10 days if Berlin does not withdraw its troops from Afghanistan.

The Arrows of Righteousness group posted a video on the Internet showing Hannelore Marianne Krause urging Germany to heed the demands of the militants. The footage showed her passport.

The video was posted today on a Web site used by militant groups including al Qaeda.

''We give the German government 10 days from the date of this statement to announce and start the withdrawal of their troops from Afghanistan, otherwise ... they will not even see the bodies of these two agents,'' said a masked man, reading a statement on the video.

He did not give the date of the statement.

The speaker said Germany was ''annihilating'' fellow Muslims in Afghanistan and ''smiling at us in Iraq. Do not the tyrants know that we are one nation with one religion?'' Germany opposed the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.

Krause, 61, was sitting next to a younger man, urged German Chancellor Angela Merkel to meet the demands of her abductors to save her life and that of her son. Both hostages were weeping as she made her plea.

It was not clear if the man was also German, but Klause said he was recently wed and that his wife might be pregnant. Her German-language statement was translated in Arabic on the video.

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