US forces hunt German hostages in Baghdad

Baghdad, Mar 26: US soldiers hunting for a German woman and her son being held hostage by an Iraqi Islamist group raided houses in Baghdad last night but came up empty-handed.

Reuters photographer Fabrizio Bensch who witnessed the raid said the troops had been acting on a tip-off.

The little-known group, the Arrows of Righteousness, has threatened to kill the two hostages unless Germany withdraws its 3,000 troops from Afghanistan.

The German woman, Hannelore Marianne Krause, is married to an Iraqi physician and moved to Iraq 40 years ago. Her son is reported to be in his mid-20s and has dual German-Iraqi citizenship.

The pair were seized from their home in the western Baghdad district of Ghazaliya in early February.

Earlier this month, the kidnappers released a video showing Krause weeping with her son and appealing to German Chancellor Angela Merkel to meet the kidnappers' demands.

Germany, which opposed the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, has around 3,000 troops in Afghanistan as part of a NATO force stationed there since US-led troops toppled the Taliban in 2001 for harbouring al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

The German government has said it is working to try to secure the hostages' release but will not be blackmailed.

More than 200 foreigners and thousands of Iraqis have been kidnapped since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Most foreign hostages have been released but at least 60 have been reported killed by their captors.

Last year two German engineers were captured in Iraq and held for 99 days before they were freed. It is not clear if a ransom was paid. Before that, German archaeologist Susanne Osthoff was also held by an Islamist group.

Reuters