More troubles in Nigeria's oil rich Niger delta. more...

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This is Basra, which is generally terror free. However, it is not crime free. The Macedonian citizens are ethnically Albanian, which means they are Muslims. more...

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The name of this terror organization is eerily similar to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's Tawhid i jihad and the Kurdish al Qaeda offshoot of Ansar al-Sunna.

AP:

Al-Arabiya TV aired footage of two German hostages surrounded by their kidnappers Monday who threatened to kill them unless the German government doesn't meet their demands.

The station's broadcaster said the kidnappers, identified as Tawhid and Sunnah Brigade [Unity and the way of the Prophet followers], warned the German government that it was the "last chance" to comply with their demands or they will kill hostages Thomas Nitschke and Rene Braeunlich, who were abducted Jan. 24 in Beiji, north of Baghdad.

An earlier video was released on January 27th. The two were reported missing a few days before that.

Thanks to Carlos for his unending support of hostages in Iraq.

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Jill Carroll's terrorist captors are warning that they will murder the American hostage if their demand that all female Iraqi prisoners be released. The terrorists gave the Iraqi governmet until Feb. 26th. Also, an informer told a private Kuwaiti TV station that he knew where Jill Carroll is. I pray that this Arab TV station cooperates with the Iraqi and American forces so that Jill Carroll can be liberated from her barbaric captors before it is too late.

A note accompanied the video released of Jill Carroll yesterday. I guess we now know what was on the note. Apparently, there is also a ransom demand.

AP: more...

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A new video has appeared on a private Kuwaiti television station of American hostage Jill Carroll. This is the third video released of Jill Carroll. The Kuwaiti TV station did not play the full video and did not release copies of a note which is said to have accompanied the video.

The segment of the video aired can bee seen here (right side). In the video, Jill Carroll does not appear to be in distress. In fact, of the dozens of hostage videos I've seen, this is the first time where the hostage actually seems completely fine. However, only a portion of the tape has been released to the public so we don't know what else is on it. (Hat tip to Tim at OpinionBug for link)

Oddly, this is the first time a hostage video has been delivered to any one other than al Jazeera. Also, several deadlines have past since Jill Carroll's hostage takers threatened to murder her. Perhaps these are good signs that her captors are only after money and not like the hardcore jihadis who have murdered hostages in the past? We pray for Jill Carroll's immediate release.

For more information about Jill Carroll and the previous hostage videos click here.

Reuters:

An American journalist being held hostage in Iraq appeared in a new video tape aired on a private Kuwaiti TV station on Thursday appealing for help in securing her release.

Jill Carroll, 28, was wearing a headscarf and appeared in good health in the brief video aired by Al Rai TV.

"I'm here with the mujahideen. I sent you a letter written by hand. I'm here, I'm fine. Please just do whatever they want," she said. "Give them whatever they want as quickly as possible. There is very short time. Please move fast."

She said the video had been recorded on February 2, but did not say what was in the letter that the TV station received along with the tape.

Jassem Boodai, the chairman of Al Rai TV, told Reuters that the station did not plan to broadcast the contents of the letter. "Because of the sensitive matters mentioned in it, we handed it over to Kuwaiti authorities," he said.

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The great thing about Palestinian terrorists is that there is always another Palestinian terrorist group around to free the hostage taken by the original Palestinian terrorist group. The anti-hostage terror groups in Palestine know its bad PR. That, and they really need Europe's money.

Xinhua:

A German citizen was released Thursday night after being briefly kidnapped by Palestinian militants in the northern West Bank city of Nablus, Palestinian witnesses and security sources said.

A group of masked militants broke into the al-Yasmin Hotel in Nablus and forced the German citizen, who was staying in the hotel, to go with them, said the witnesses.

The hostage, identified as Christoph Kasten, a 21-year-old who teaches English in Nablus, was later handed over unharmed to the Palestinian police, said well-informed sources.

Fifteen minutes later, the German was released by police. Witnesses said that no one claimed responsibility for the abduction, but added that militants of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed wing of the Fatah movement, were searching hotels in Nablus for Europeans on Thursday night.

The group issued a leaflet in Nablus, which denied its involvement.....

Shortly before the kidnapping of the German national, another group of militants stormed into the French cultural center in Nablus, said Palestinian security sources, adding that the police managed to expel the militants.

Earlier in the day, militants in Gaza broke into the European Union headquarters in the Gaza City and shut it down after firing in the air.

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(Baghdad) A few hours ago, terrorists abducted two journalists from a car traveling the streets of Baghdad.

From Aljazeera.net:

Police and station officials said on Thursday that Reem Zaid, 23, and her colleague Marwan Khaza'al, 25, were returning to the offices of Sumariya TV in Baghdad on Wednesday after attending a press conference when they were kidnapped by gunmen.

A station official who spoke on condition of anonymity said: "They were in a car with two cameramen and their driver when another car blocked them. The five gunmen took the correspondents and their car and left the two cameramen."

Many Iraqi media outlets are also controlled by various political factions inside and outside the government, but the Sumariya official said that the station was privately owned by Iraqis and had no links to any political group.

As journalists, Zaid and Khaza'al apparently were targeted and tracked. Evidently the terrorists recognize that the media exposure associated with kidnapping journalists is exponentially greater than what occurs with businessmen, politicians, or military personnel. Consequently, the terroists are capitalizing on the situation and making journalists their preferred hostages.

Even so, I have to wonder why they didn't take the cameramen also. After all, they too are journalists.

Companion post at Interested-Participant.

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