Three Indians taken hostage in Iraq

Two Kenyans, one Egyptian also taken hostage.

An extremist group in Iraq has reportedly taken six persons as hostage. Among which, there are three Indians, two are from Egypt and one from Kenya.

A group calling itself "Holders of the Black Banners" have threatened to behead vowed to behead one hostage every three days, with a deadline starting at 8 p.m. (1600 GMT) on Wednesday, if the Kuwaiti firm "Universal Services" for which they work does not pull out of the Iraq.They also warned other Kuwaiti firms from working in Iraq or dealing with Americans.

According to news agencies, one hostage was shown holding a sheet of paper with the typed names of seven men, their nationalities, passport numbers and registration numbers of their trucks. The paper had "July 20" stamped on it and the words "Universal Services" hand-written on top.

The names listed in the paper were Antaryami, Tilak Raj and Sukdev Singh from India; Ibrahim Khamis, Salm Faiz Khamis and Jalal Awadh from Kenya (one of the Kenyans is not a hostage); and Mohammed Ali Sanad from Egypt.

PTI adds: Indian external affairs ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna told reporters in Islamabad "We are trying to find out all possible details and liaise with Iraqi authorities to seek early release of the kidnapped persons".

He adds, "We are in touch with our embassy in Baghdad. We are making efforts to ensure safe release of the abducted persons".

External affairs minister K Natwar Singh, who is here for the Saarc Ministerial Conference, has been briefed about the development, Sarna added.