US seeks to kill or seize As-Sadr; 12 hostages released

By: Hamoud Kufi

WASHINGTON/ BAGHDAD: American commanders in Iraq want Iraqi cleric Moqtada As-Sadr dead or alive, and separately a member of the Governing Council said Monday kidnappers have released up to 12 foreigners taken hostage in Iraq as the US military said two US soldiers and seven American contractors were missing.

In a video conference from Baghdad with journalists at the Pentagon, commander of ground forces in Iraq Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez said: “The mission of the US forces is to kill or capture Moqtada As-Sadr.”

According to earlier reports, plans were being made in Iraq for the shifting of Moqtada As-Sadr to Iran as a political refugee. The United States severely criticized Iran for inciting As-Sadr against US.

In an interview, Governing Council member Mohsen Abdul-Hamid did not identify the nationalities of the hostages he said were released or where they were.

More than 30 foreigners from at least 12 countries — including a Mississippi man whose fate also was unclear — have been kidnapped in recent days by insurgents.

Also Monday, Beijing appealed to Iraqi authorities to rescue seven Chinese civilians who were kidnapped in central Iraq.

Last week, eight South Korean missionaries also were released or escaped.

In Tokyo, optimism faded that the Japanese hostages would be released quickly after a top government spokesman suggested authorities were no longer confident of their safety. US Vice President Dick Cheney, in Tokyo on a weeklong Asia tour, promised Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi the United States would “do everything we can to be of assistance.”

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World leaders flay Iraq carnage, holy places desecration

CAIRO, Egypt: Leaders of the Arab and Muslim world as well as Islamic scholars have severely condemned slaughtering of Iraqi people and aggression on holy places by the US-led occupation forces in Iraq.

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