An Iraqi militant group kidnapped two French journalists and gave the French government 48 hours to end its ban on Muslim headscarves in school, Arabic television station Al Jazeera said on Saturday.
Jazeera identified the hostages as reporters George Malbrunot and Christian Chesnot. Last week, the French Foreign Ministry said the two men had gone missing in Iraq.
It named the group as the Islamic Army in Iraq. On Thursday, Jazeera said the same group killed Italian freelance journalist Enzo Baldoni because Italy refused to withdraw troops from Iraq.
The Arabic-language television network Al-Jazeera broadcast videotape Saturday showing Radio France International’s Christian Chesnot and Le Figaro newspaper’s Georges Malbrunot, who were reported missing the morning of August 21.
According to Al-Jazeera, the kidnappers are demanding that the French government overturn a law that bans Muslim students from wearing headscarves in French public schools.
The captors said they were with a group called the Islamic Army in Iraq.
