UPDATED ON: SATURDAY, APRIL 14, 2007 22:02 MECCA TIME, 19:02 GMT
Al-Qaeda in Iraq has said its fighters have kidnapped 20 Iraqi soldiers and policemen in northeast Baghdad.
In an internet statement released on Saturday, the self-styled Islamic State of Iraq said the men would be killed unless the government released all Sunni women held in Iraq's prisons within 48 hours.
The group also posted still images showing the purported captives dressed in brown army and blue police uniforms, blindfolded and handcuffed.
The movement's claim to have captured the men could not be independently verified.
The group demanded the release of "Muslim Sunni sisters who are in the prisons of the interior" ministry, in the statement posted on a website used by Iraqi armed groups.
"The Islamic State of Iraq gives the government of [Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki] 48 hours to meet its demands or it will execute the rule of God on them," it said.
The Iraqi government has not yet responded to the group's claim or to its demands.
Other demands
The group also said the government should hand over to it agents from Iraq's interior ministry who are accused of involvement in the widely publicised alleged rape of a Sunni woman.
The alleged rape of the woman known by the pseudonym of Janabi, who appeared in footage broadcast on Arab TV networks saying she had been raped by interior ministry officers, triggered a bitter row at the highest levels in Iraq.
Sunni leaders largely believed her claims, but al-Maliki dismissed them, alleging the rape was invented by Sunni politicians to tarnish the police at the launch of a Baghdad security crackdown.
The photos of the 20 men posted on the internet, of various ranks, included a security unit commander, according to the picture of his ministry identification card.
The statement did not say when the men were captured.
The group, which was formed last year by al-Qaeda's wing in Iraq and several smaller Sunni armed groups, has previously claimed responsibility for mass kidnappings and a series of major attacks.
Les combattants de Al Qaida ont capturé 20 soldats et des policiers iraquiens dans le nord-est de Baghdad. Par message via le net, ils menacent de les exécuter sous 48 heures si toutes les femmes sunites dans les prisons iraquiennes n'étaient pas libérées.
Des photos sur le net montrent ces captifs dans leur uniforme vert militaire ou bleu de policier, les yeux bandés et les mains attachées, les uns à côté des autres.
Le gouvernement iraquien n'a pas encore répondu à leurs demandes.
Le groupe a dit aussi que le gouvernement devait remettre à leurs agents le ministre de l'intérieur qui est accusé d'implication dans le présumé viol largement publicité d'une femme sunnite connue sous le pseudonyme de Janabi qui était apparue dans une émission diffusée sur Arab TV où elle racontait comment elle avait été violée par les officiers du ministre de l'intérieur.
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