Sudanese interpreter working for US in Irak taken hostage

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Oct 30, 2004 (AP) — A Sudanese interpreter working for a U.S. contractor in Ramadi appeared Saturday on an Arabic television station, saying he was kidnapped by a group demanding his firm leave Iraq.

Noureddin Zakaria of Khartoum, who was surrounded by armed men, said on a tape broadcast by Al-Arabiya television that he worked for the Titan Corp., and was kidnapped during a military operation in the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi, 113 kilometers (70 miles) west of Baghdad.

“I hope and call on the company to stop its operations in Iraq to guarantee my release,” he said.

Behind him was a green banner with the name “The National Islamic Resistance, the 1920 Revolution Brigades.”

The group emerged in July of last year in documents promising to “liberate” Iraqi territory from foreign occupation and establish a “liberated and independent Iraqi state on an Islamic basis.”

It has carried out attacks mostly in the area west of Baghdad.

The 1920 Revolution refers to the uprising against British military occupation, which historians consider the birth of Iraqi nationalism.

Titan Corp., based in San Diego, California, is the largest provider of translators to the U.S. government.