Minister in Kuwait on mission to free Italians

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini arrived in Kuwait yesterday as part of high level efforts to try to free two Italian hostages Simona Pari and Simona Torretta currently being held hostage by a shadowy group in Iraq.

Frattini's trip came as an Islamist website published an ultimatum demanding the withdrawal of Italian troops in 24 hours. The statement which was signed by a group that calls itself Islamic Jihad Organisation in Iraq also said that the two women would be killed if Rome did not comply. The ultimatum could not be authenticated

The two women aid workers were seized at their Baghdad office last Tuesday. Frattini was received upon his arrival by Information Minister and Acting Foreign Minister Mohammad Abul Hassan and Foreign undersecretary Khalid Al Jarallah.

Later, Frattini paid a symbolic visit tithe State Mosque where he read out a statement in Italian. "I seize this opportunity to appeal for the release of the two Italian hostages and all other hostages in Iraq….. "In this place I feel deep friendship. This holy place is the place to begin a religious and civilised dialogue between religions. This is the Italian viewpoint.

A report from Brussels said the European Union foreign ministers were set to call for the immediate release of the hostages.

Meanwhile, Iraq's Committee of Ulemas, or senior Sunni Muslim scholars, yesterday called for the release of the two Italians and two Iraqis.

"We call for the release of the two Italian hostages, the two Iraqis who worked with them and the two French journalists," spoke-sman Shaikh Mohammad Bashar Al Fayzi said.

Meanwhile, a Canadian freelance reporter yesterday said he was kidnapped briefly last week in northern Iraq and handed over to militants who beat him and threatened repeatedly to behead him.

Scott Taylor said he was released on Sunday after five days in captivity. He said his captors had accused him of being a spy for Israel's Mossad secret service. "At least three times in five days I was told that I was about to be beheaded," he told CBC radio from Turkey.

In another incident, a Syrian truck driver was kidnapped Saturday morning from northern Iraq, a police official said. He was identified as Hassan Awad Mohammad.

The writer is a Kuwait-based journalist