Relatives of two Jordanian drivers abducted in Iraq threatened Tuesday to behead the director of the company the hostages work for and to kill all the firm's employees if the director fails to immediately comply with the kidnappers' demands to cease operations in Iraq. Fayez Saad al-Udwan and Ahmed Salama Hassan — who work as drivers for the private Jordanian company Daoud and Partners — were kidnapped Monday by a group calling itself the Mujahedeen Corps in Iraq. The group warned the captives would be killed within 72 hours unless their employer withdrew from Iraq and stopped cooperating with U.S forces. The company provides construction and catering services to the U.S. military in Iraq. Al-Udwan's brother, Omar, said: "We told the firm's executive director, Rami al-Ouweiss, that if he does not comply with the kidnappers' demands today, his company and the lives of his employees will not be spared."
| Sounds pretty bloodthirsty to me... |
"We will chop off the head of the firm's director if he doesn't heed to our demands to completely cease his operation in Iraq," Hassan's father, Salama, said.
| Gee, why is it that the idea that this "kidnapping" may have been staged keeps running through my head? |
Both men spoke to reporters at a gathering of male relatives from the two families outside the Amman offices of Daoud and Partners to demand the closure of the company's Iraq operations. Loua'i al-Umeish, one of the company's managers, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that the company would make an announcement related to its operations in Iraq later in the day, but refused to provide details.
There was no immediate comment from the government about the threats. After the gathering, four policemen confiscated videotape and film from the media, including from an AP photographer. The policemen said they had instructions from the government that the event should not be recorded, then told journalists to leave. |