| US Marine taken hostage in Iraq(Reuters)
 Updated: 2004-06-28 07:54
 
 
 
 
 | 
  A television image aired by Al Jazeera June 
 27, 2004 shows a blindfolded man dressed in camouflage sitting in a chair 
 with a hand holding a sword above his head. A Marine Corps identity card 
 named him as Wassef Ali Hassoun and Jazeera said he was of Pakistani 
 origin. Al Jazeera television said a group calling itself the Islamic 
 Response Movement, the security wing of the "1920 Revolution Brigades", 
 had kidnapped the U.S. Marine after luring him from a U.S. base. Militants 
 have kidnapped a U.S. Marine and a Pakistani driver in Iraq and are 
 threatening to behead them unless Iraqi prisoners are freed, Arab 
 television reported on Sunday. [Reuters]
 
  
 
  A television image aired on Al Arabiya 
 television June 27, 2004 shows a Pakistani man, who had an identity card 
 given to contractors working for the U.S. military, urging Pakistani 
 Pervez Musharraf to shut down his country's embassy in Iraq. In the video 
 tape, unidentified gunmen said they had seized a Pakistani hostage near 
 Balad, north of Baghdad, and would kill him within three days unless Iraqi 
 prisoners were released from jail.Turkey and Pakistan are not part of the 
 U.S.-led occupation force in Iraq but many nationals work as drivers, 
 cooks, cleaners and support staff for U.S. troops.[Reuters]
 
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