Two wire-service stories that update, most recently, yesterday's "Iraq Qaeda claims abduction of 5 Sudanese - Web" (updated to add the one from the AP):
From Reuters...
(The original brief alert is also still available on AlertNet.)
Sudan said on Friday it would shut its embassy in Baghdad, a day after al Qaeda in Iraq said it had kidnapped five Sudanese embassy staff last week and demanded that Khartoum cut its ties with Baghdad within 48 hours.
"Sudan has decided to close its diplomatic mission in Iraq and to withdraw its diplomatic staff," Jamal Ibrahim, the Sudanese foreign ministry's spokesman, told Reuters by telephone. He had no further comment.
Al Qaeda in Iraq said on Thursday it was behind the abduction of the Sudanese embassy staff, including a diplomat, according to a Web statement.
A video posted with the statement showed five men identifying themselves as embassy staff.
"I call on the Sudanese government to carry out the demand ... to withdraw the diplomatic mission," said a man who identified himself as Abdul-Munem Mohammed al-Houri, the embassy's second secretary. The Sudanese foreign ministry said last Friday that six Sudanese men, including the embassy's second secretary, had been kidnapped in Baghdad after attending Muslim prayers.
The al Qaeda in Iraq group said in the Web statement it gave "the Sudanese government 48 hours to announce in a clear way ... that it was severing relations with the (Iraqi) government and closing its embassy in Baghdad".
The statement could not be authenticated, but was posted on a main Web site frequently used by Iraqi insurgent groups.
Insurgents have often kidnapped foreigners to put pressure on their governments to break ties with Baghdad. Some foreigners have been abducted by groups seeking ransom.
From the AP...
Sudan will close its embassy in Baghdad in an effort to win the release of six kidnapped employees, a Sudanese diplomat said Friday, a day after al-Qaida in Iraq threatened to kill the captives if the diplomatic mission remained.
Al-Qaida in Iraq, which has kidnapped and killed a string of Arab diplomats and embassy employees in a campaign to scare Arab governments from setting up full diplomatic missions in Iraq, had set a Saturday deadline for Sudan to ``announce clearly that it is cutting its relations'' with the Iraqi government, or it would kill five Sudanese hostages.
The Sudanese Foreign Ministry reported on Dec. 24 that six of its embassy employees were kidnapped - including the mission's second secretary. It was not immediately clear if the al-Qaida statement referred to the same group.
``A statement was issued by the Sudanese government to close the embassy in Iraq to win the release of our kidnapped citizens,'' the embassy's charge d'affairs, Mohamed Ahmed Khalil, told The Associated Press. He added that the embassy's 12 employees would leave on Monday.
The Qatari-based Al-Jazeera satellite channel on Thursday showed video it said it received from the kidnappers, showing the five Sudanese sitting on chairs, talking to the camera, but no audio was heard. The video also showed ID documents from the Sudanese Embassy, but the names could not be discerned.
Al-Qaida's statement said if Sudan did not close its embassy, ``this government will bear the responsibility of presenting their diplomats as sacrifices.''
The terror group said it had previously warned Arab nations of its ``war against what is called the diplomatic missions in Baghdad,'' adding that the governments had ignored it, ``still getting closer to the infidel Crusaders and Jews.''
In July, al-Qaida abducted the top Egyptian envoy in Baghdad, Ihab al-Sherif, and two Algerian diplomats. It later announced they had been killed. The group also snatched two Moroccan embassy employees in June and said that it had sentenced them to death, though it never stated whether it carried out the sentences.
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