10/4/2004 10:00:00 PM GMT
A new video was released showing the killing of two hostages in Iraq, one a Turk and the other an Iraqi who was a longtime resident in Italy.
The Italian foreign ministry confirmed the that Ayad Wali had been killed.
Al Jazeera satellite channel aired a video showing members of a militant group accusing the two men of spying.
The Iraqi, whose full name is Ajad Anwar Wali, worked for a furniture company, and was kidnapped from his Baghdad office at the end of August.
In a video released by the two hostages’ takers, Wali appeared confessing that he had been working for Israeli, Turkish and Iranian intelligence agents in Iraq.
Wali's family said the Italian Foreign Ministry informed them that Wali was killed by his captors. "The Foreign Ministry told me that my brother was killed," the victim's brother, Emad Wali, said.
His fellow hostage, a Turkish national named as Yalmaz Dabja also admitted spy accusations.
The video then showed the two men being shot dead by a group of 5 masked men.
Wali has been a resident in Italy for about two decades and had an Italian wife - but never got the Italian citizenship.
Emad Wali, the businessman's brother, accused the Italian government of turning a blind eye to the hostages' plight.
"My brother was probably considered a second-class hostage," La Repubblica newspaper quoted Emad as saying.
Mr. Wali strongly denied that his brother was involved in espionage and said that he had gone to Iraq only to export Italian goods.
Last week two Italian female aid workers, Simona Toretta and Simona Pari, were released after being kidnapped by another Iraqi group.
Italy’s government denied paying a ransom to secure the release of the two Simonas.
Indonesian hostages released
Meanwhile an Iraqi group announced it has released the two Indonesian female hostages. The two women were handed over on Monday to the United Arab Emirates' embassy in Baghdad, Abu Dhabi Television reported.
In the video, aired on the UAE's state-owned television, the two veiled Indonesian women appeared to be in a very good health. A UAE diplomat said that the two women will be transferred to the Red Cross in Iraq.
"There is no Indonesian embassy in Iraq so we received them for humanitarian reasons. We are now coordinating with the Red Cross to hand them over," the diplomat said.
An Iraqi groups announced last week it has kidnapped the two women along with 8 other hostages, six Iraqis and two Lebanese men.
The group offered to release the women on one condition that Jakarta frees jailed cleric, Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, detained on suspected terror links.
However, the Indonesian Muslim cleric refused to be released in exchange for the two women, saying that hostage taking is not consistent with the Islamic faith. Also the Indonesian government refused the group’s demand.
The fate of the rest 8 hostages remains unclear.
Scores of foreigners have been kidnapped in Iraq, and some of them are still captured by different groups- among which is the British engineer Kenneth Bigley.