Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
BERLIN, Dec 1 (AFP) - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said
on Thursday it was possible that the German woman kidnapped in Iraq had been
seized by a criminal gang.
"I believe it is a possible, but not definitive, conclusion," Steinmeier
told journalists.
He was speaking after a meeting of the government team which is trying to
establish the whereabouts of Susanne Osthoff, an aid worker and trained
archeologist who was taken hostage in Iraq on Friday along with her driver.
Steinmeier said the video released by Osthoff's kidnappers to German
television, purportedly showing her and her driver blindfolded and
surrounded by armed men, contained no religious symbols and was poorly made.
However, that was not enough to conclude that the kidnappers were criminals
seeking money, rather than a gang operating with a religious or political
motive, he said.
Steinmeier said no contact had yet been made with the kidnappers.
They have threatened to kill the hostages unless Germany stops cooperating
with the Iraqi government.
Germany has no troops in Iraq, but trains Iraqi security forces in Germany
and the United Arab Emirates.
on Thursday it was possible that the German woman kidnapped in Iraq had been
seized by a criminal gang.
"I believe it is a possible, but not definitive, conclusion," Steinmeier
told journalists.
He was speaking after a meeting of the government team which is trying to
establish the whereabouts of Susanne Osthoff, an aid worker and trained
archeologist who was taken hostage in Iraq on Friday along with her driver.
Steinmeier said the video released by Osthoff's kidnappers to German
television, purportedly showing her and her driver blindfolded and
surrounded by armed men, contained no religious symbols and was poorly made.
However, that was not enough to conclude that the kidnappers were criminals
seeking money, rather than a gang operating with a religious or political
motive, he said.
Steinmeier said no contact had yet been made with the kidnappers.
They have threatened to kill the hostages unless Germany stops cooperating
with the Iraqi government.
Germany has no troops in Iraq, but trains Iraqi security forces in Germany
and the United Arab Emirates.