Anxious wait on Western hostages
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Negotiations are held behind the scenes in Iraq to free two Americans and a Briton threatened with beheading.
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An Iraqi group linked to al-Qaeda threatened to kill three Western hostages within 48 hours unless Iraqi women prisoners are freed.
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Militants holding three hostages in Afghanistan are divided over what to do after issuing a series of deadlines and narrowing their demands, the BBC reports.
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Militants who have threatened to kill  three U.N. workers seized in Afghanistan almost three weeks ago  appeared to narrow demands for their release on Tuesday and  said they would meet later in the day to decide their fate.
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MILITANTS holding two French journalists hostage in Iraq had agreed to their release, but it was being delayed by security problems on the ground, the girlfriend of one of the men said today.
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Kidnappers threatening to kill three foreign UN workers in Afghanistan complained yesterday that the government had yet to free 26 Taliban
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DUBAI - The group of Abu Mussab Al Zarqawi, which has claimed the gruesome killing of foreign hostages in Iraq, threatened yesterday to execute two Americans and a Briton it is holding unless Iraqi women prisoners are freed within 48 hours.
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Charity workers were still facing an agonising wait for news of Iraq aid worker Margaret Hassan tonight after a televised plea to her kidnappers was met with silence.
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Baghdad, Iraq -- Some of Muqtada al-Sadr&#39;s aides in Iraq say kidnappers have promised to release a Western journalist, perhaps as early as Friday.
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The family of a British engineer anxiously awaited news of his fate at the hands of Islamic extremists in Iraq who abducted him eight days ago along with two Americans who have since been executed.
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Relatives pleaded Monday for the release of two Americans and a Briton held hostage as a deadline loomed for their beheading. In Baghdad, gunmen assassinated two clerics from a powerful Sunni Muslim group opposed to the US presence in Iraq.
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France scrambled to secure the release of  two French journalists kidnapped by Iraqi militants who gave  Paris until Monday evening to drop its controversial ban on  Muslim headscarves in schools.
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Militants holding three foreign UN workers in Afghanistan have threatened to kill them unless all Taliban and al Qaida prisoners are released from US custody by noon (0730 GMT) on Wednesday.
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LIVERPOOL, England  - Anxious Britons awaited news  on Wednesday of hostage Kenneth Bigley after his captors in  Iraq said they beheaded the second of two Americans being held  with him.
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There is still no confirmation of reports that two Australians working as security guards in Iraq are being held hostage by Islamic extremists.
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Afghan militants holding three foreigners hostage have said they will kill them unless Taleban and al-Qaeda prisoners are released by Wednesday.
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Conflicting reports of ransom demands, rescues and deaths cloud the search for a group of abducted Western security contractors