Baghdad: US Raid Frees Hostages

From Reuters

U.S. forces in Iraq stormed a house in Baghdad on Monday and freed two of the four Egyptian telecommunications engineers who were kidnapped Sunday, the head of their Egyptian parent company said.

Naguib Sawiris, chairman of Egypt's Orascom Telecom, said U.S. troops raided a villa, possibly in the mainly Sunni Muslim district of Adhamiya, and freed the two. The other two managed to escape on their own from a car they had been locked in, he added.

"All four are free," Sawiris said by telephone from Algeria. "The Americans caught one of the kidnappers."

No word on how many reporters may have been targeted and killed during the raid by young soldiers who were poorly disciplined.

Meanwhile, looks like the Association of Muslim Scholars may have succeeded in getting a hostage released too:

Giuliana Sgrena, a 56-year-old reporter for the Communist daily Il Manifesto, was kidnapped near Baghdad University.

A group calling itself the Islamic Jihad Organization claimed to have kidnapped the woman and gave Italy 72 hours to withdraw its troops from Iraq. But it made no threats to kill her nor said what would happen if its demands were not met.

"After the judicial committee of the Jihad Organization interrogated the Italian captive Giuliana Sgrena, it has been found that the Italian captive is not involved in spying for the infidels in Iraq," the group said in a statement posted on a website that frequently carries messages from Islamic militants.

"In response to the appeal made by the Muslim Scholars' Assn., we, in the Jihad Organization, will free the Italian captive in the next few days," the statement added.

More on that group (the Association of Muslim Scholars - not the terrorists or communists) here.