Ransom payments seen fuelling Iraq&#39;s hostage crisis
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The release of two Italian aid workers in Iraq has raised hopes other hostages may soon be freed, but reports that a large ransom was paid may only feed the burgeoning hostage crisis.
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NEW YORK, Nov. 25 -- The Iraq insurgency has become financially self-sustaining, raising tens of millions of dollars a year from oil smuggling, kidnapping, counterfeiting, corrupt charities and other crimes, the New York Times reported in Sunday editions.
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The terrorists holding Ken Bigley hostage in Iraq could be prepared to barter their captive for a ransom, it emerged last night. The Islamic militant leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has decided that Mr Bigley
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A senior Italian politician says ransom of $1m was paid for the release of two hostages held in Iraq.
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The images coming out of the latest hostage crisis in Iraq - capped by dramatic video of British captive Kenneth Bigley begging for his life - have transfixed Britons, left governments looking helpless, and revived a classic dilemma about whether to negotiate with terrorists.
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The Kuwaiti daily which predicted the release of two Italian hostages in Iraq said on Wednesday that the captors had originally demanded a &#36;5 million ransom but settled for &#36;1 million in the end.
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A NEW breed of kidnappers, described as &#39;strategic terrorists&#39;, in Iraq has led experts with experience of negotiating hostage releases to admit that lessons from the past may no longer apply.
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Many Koreans, while relieved, express concerns about charges that a ransom was paid.
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Besides hostage-takings by insurgent groups, many criminal gangs in Iraq have been kidnapping people for ransom.
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BAGHDAD: A Turkish shipping magnate and three others were kidnapped as violence in Iraq yesterday claimed six more lives. A Turkish private NTV television channel said that the kidnappers have demanded a $25 million (BD9.5m) ransom.
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The Afghan government is considering  offering a ransom to free three U.N. hostages, an official said  on Monday, as the kidnappers repeated a threat to kill the  foreigners unless Taliban prisoners were released.
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BAGHDAD -- An insurgent group that has claimed responsibility for a series of hostage-takings threatened yesterday to execute two Americans and a Briton who were kidnapped Thursday unless the United States frees female Iraqi prisoners, the Al-Jazeera satellite channel reported.
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Iraqi militants holding two French journalists have reportedly set a 48-hour deadline for their new demands to be met, including payment of a five-million-dollar ransom.
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A delegation of senior British Muslims left for Baghdad on Friday night to plead for the life of the British hostage Kenneth Bigley, who it is now claimed was sold by his kidnappers to an Al-Qaeda outfit for almost Â£150,000.
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The fate of a British hostage kidnapped in Baghdad is looking increasingly perilous after his captors threatened to kill him if their demands are not met.
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The Iraqi kidnappers of two French reporters who have been missing since Aug. 20 today demanded a $5 million ransom as a condition for their release, according to a statement posted on an Islamic Web site.
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The kidnappers of British hostage Margaret Hassan have threatened to hand her over to an al-Qaida-related group led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi unless their demands - including the