Italian hostage killed - Aljazeera TV

["nello margiotta" <nellomargiotta55@virgilio.it>]

Thursday 15 April 2004, 0:02 Makka Time, 21:02 GMT


A group calling itself the Green Brigade says it has killed one of the four
Italians hostages it had captured.


The group said in a statement sent to Aljazeera along with a video tape on
Wednesday that it had killed the hostage because the Italian president
Silvio Berlusconi said pulling his troops out of Iraq was "not in question."

Aljazeera said it will not air the tape showing the killing of the hostage
"in order not to upset viewers sensitivities".

"When your president says pulling the troops out of Iraq is non-negotiable
then this means he does not care for the safety of his citizens as much as
he is concerned with satisfying his masters in the White House," said the
group in a statement sent to Aljazeera.

"We have killed one of the four hostages we have in order to teach a lesson
for those who are involved. We know they are guards working for the American
occupation in our country.

"We ask you one more time to revolt once again in the face of  your leaders
and reject this unjust war on us so that we can protect  your citizens. We
are waiting for that from you or else we will kill them one by one," added
the Green Brigade.

Earlier videotape

Aljazeera aired a videotape on Tuesday showing the four Italians, with their
passports, surrounded by armed men.

The group member said on videotape that they would hold the Italians until
their demands are met, including withdrawal of Italian troops from Iraq, the
release of mosque Imams and an apology from Rome.

Silvio Berlusconi  said on Tuesday the withdrawal of his country's 3000
strong military force in Iraq was "absolutely not in question". He added his
government would "do everything in its power" to obtain the release of the
Italians.

In Rome, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Italy was unable to
confirm one of its nationals held hostage in Iraq had been killed.

"We have no confirmation, we hope the news is false," Frattini said on
Italian state television, when asked about the report that a hostage had
been killed.