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July 11, 2007

German FM Says Hostage Released in Iraq
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=181B746:A6F02AD83191E16099C6002C1D9E22EE9574F7DCC14957C0 Frank-Walter
Steinmeier told reporters in Berlin that Hannelore Krause was released
Tuesday, her adult son is still held captive Germany's foreign
minister says one of two German hostages held in Iraq since February
has been freed.







German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier waits for the opening
of a cabinet's meeting in Berlin, 11 July 2007

Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters in Berlin
Wednesday that Hannelore Krause was released Tuesday. Krause said on
Arabic television Wednesday that her adult son, still a captive, will
be slaughtered if Germany does not remove its troops from Afghanistan.

Krause was kidnapped with her adult son in Baghdad on February 6.

A militant Islamist group released a videotape of the hostages in
March threatening to kill both of them unless Germany pulled out of
Afghanistan within 10 days. They released a second video of Krause and
her son in April, with the same demand.

Germany has about 3,000 troops in northern Afghanistan as part of
NATO's International Security Assistance Force.

Also today, the U.S. military said a suspected terrorist has been
detained in southwest Baghdad. In a statement, the military said the
suspect, an unidentified male, is believed to be affiliated with a
terror group known as Jaysh al-Mahdi. The group is believed to be
responsible for numerous attacks on Iraqi civilians as well as on
coalition forces in the area.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Embassy in Iraq said a mortar attack on the
heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad killed at least three people.
The embassy says the dead included a U.S. service member, an Iraqi
citizen and a person of unknown nationality. .

The Green Zone includes the Iraqi parliament and prime minister's
office as well as the embassies of the United States and Britain.

Violence in Iraq has killed more than 250 people in recent days.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.


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