- A US soldier missing since an attack last week on a US
fuel convoy is being held hostage in Iraq, militants say.
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- Arabic television station al-Jazeera broadcast a video
showing masked gunmen and a Caucasian man in army clothes.
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- Family friends confirmed it was Private Keith Matthew
Maupin and said they were delighted he appeared to be well.
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- The claim that a soldier was in custody came as some
foreign hostages were released in Iraq, while a further two civilians were
reported kidnapped.
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- Three Czech journalists missing since Sunday were freed
and declared: "We all are in good condition."
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- A Syrian-born Canadian man was also released, but a Dane
and an American were reported to have been seized.
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- Captors' plans
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- The video sent to al-Jazeera showed a man dressed in
camouflage fatigues, seated on the floor, surrounded by armed men.
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- One of the men, reading a statement, said their hostage
was an American soldier.
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- "He is being treated according to the treatment
of prisoners in the Islamic religion and he is in good health," the
gunman said.
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- "We are keeping him to be exchanged with some of
the prisoners captured by the occupation forces," he added.
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- Family relief
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- The man on the tape later identified himself as Keith
Matthew Maupin.
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- "I am married and have a 10-month-old son,"
he said in an American accent. "I came to Iraq to liberate it. But
I was not at all willing to come, because I wanted to stay with my child."
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- Pentagon officials are now studying the footage.
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- Private Maupin, 20, is one of the soldiers listed as
missing after a convoy was attacked near Baghdad on 9 April.
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- A spokesman for Private Maupin's family in Ohio said
that it was definitely him in the video.
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- "Our family is very happy and prays for Matt's safety,"
family spokesman Carl Cottrell said. "On behalf of his mother... and
the rest of his family, we'd like to say, 'Matt, we love you and we can't
wait until we get to hug you again'."
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- Seven US civilian contractors have also been missing
since the attack, one of whom is known to have been abducted.
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- Mood lifted
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- Fears have grown for the fate of foreign hostages since
the killing of Italian Fabrizio Quattrocchi on Wednesday.
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- The mood was lifted when three Japanese were released
on Thursday, and then three Czechs on Friday.
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- But the hostage taking appears to be continuing.
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- The Danish government said it believed a businessman
had been kidnapped outside Baghdad, possibly during a highway robbery.
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- "A Danish citizen is most probably being held,"
the foreign ministry in Copenhagen announced on Friday, adding that no
group had contacted it.
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- According to Danish television, the missing Dane is in
his 30s and was working on a sewerage project.
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- In the southern city of Basra, Iraqi police said an American
businessman of Jordanian origin was abducted from his hotel overnight.
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- © BBC MMIV http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3633781.stm
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