Foreign Ministry: Iraqi militants release Sudanese hostage

KHARTOUM, Sudan, Nov 6, 2004 (AP) — Iraqi militants have released a Sudanese man who was kidnapped last month while working as an interpreter for a U.S. contractor, Sudan’s Foreign Ministry said Saturday.

A video image aired by Arabic satellite channel Al Arabiya October 30, 2004 shows two masked men pointing rifles at a Sudanese translator, named as Noureddin Zakaria, taken hostage in the Iraqi rebel town of Ramadi by an Iraqi resistance group. (Al Arabiya via Reuters).

Noureddin Zakaria appeared Oct. 30 on an Arabic television station saying he was kidnapped by a group demanding his employer, San Diego-based Titan Corp., leave Iraq. Titan is the largest provider of translators to the U.S. government.

The National Islamic Resistance, the 1920 Revolution Brigades kidnapped Zakaria during a military operation in the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi, 70 miles (113 kilometers) west of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.

Sudan’s Foreign Ministry released a statement saying Zakaria was released Friday in good health and taken to the Sudanese Embassy in Baghdad.

The statement, carried by the official Sudanese news agency, congratulated the freed man’s family and all those who helped secure his release. No details were provided on how his release was secured.

Insurgents in Iraq have kidnapped more than 160 foreigners in their campaign to drive out coalition forces and hamper reconstruction. At least 34 — including three Americans and a Briton — have been killed.