Al-Qaeda in Iraq said it had condemned to death two Algerian diplomats who were abducted in Baghdad, and a video made public Tuesday showed the men blindfolded and in captivity.
In the video, Ali Belaroussi and Azzedine Belkadi gave their names and home addresses.
A statement attributed to al-Qaeda in Iraq and posted on the Internet earlier Tuesday said the group would kill the diplomats.
In Algiers, Foreign Minister Abdelaziz Belkhadem stated Tuesday that Algerian authorities had used “all means to recover safe and sound” the two Algerian diplomats. Belkhadem told a local radio station that the “Algerian government is trying all the possibilities and using all the trails to bring the truth about this affair to light and recover them safe and sound.”
Several incidents in Iraq Tuesday left at least four people dead, including two policeman. Gunmen opened fire on policeman Safaa Mohammed Shati as he was driving in the Shiite enclave of Sadr City, killing him, said Maj Hashim al-Yasiri, according to The AP.
A Health Ministry employee, Qassim Abdul Ghafour, was shot multiple times during a morning attack in the eastern suburb of Maamil, said Capt. Mohammed Izzaldin.
In the southern city of Basra, gunmen attacked a police patrol, killing two people including a civilian, said police Lt. Salah Jaafar.
Meanwhile, a chapter of Iraq's draft constitution obtained by The Associated Press gives Islam a major role in Iraqi civil law, raising concerns that women could lose rights in marriage, divorce and inheritance.
The civil law section, one of six to make up Iraq's new charter, covers the rights and duties of citizens and public and private freedoms. The language in the chapter is not final, but members of the charter drafting committee said there was agreement on most of its wording. Under Islamic law, a woman gets half of what a man would get when it comes to inheritance. Men also have the power when it comes to initiating divorces.
The drafting panel's efforts got a boost Monday when its 12 Sunni Arab members ended a boycott.
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