Al-Qaeda claims candidate kidnapping

[ECH1969]

AL-Qaeda's branch in Iraq claims to have kidnapped a parliamentary candidate and her Iraqi army colonel husband.

"Our brothers in the military branch of the al-Qaeda Organization in Mesopotamia on Tuesday captured Issam Khaza'al, a colonel in the Iraqi army, and his wife Majida Yussef Sael, a member of the consultative committee... and a candidate on Allawi's list for the elections," the group said in a message posted on an Islamist website yesterday.

Former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has set up his own list to fight the December general elections, touting it as non-ethnic and non-secular and so better able to preserve the country's unity.

The al-Qaeda group, led in Iraq by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, said the couple were questioned then placed before an Islamic tribunal to decide their fate.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,17127112-1702,00.html?from=rss

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