DUBAI - A militant group allied to Al-Qaeda claimed on Monday that it had captured nine Iraqi army and police personnel, and demanded the release of Sunni women held in Iraqi prisons.
The self-styled Islamic State of Iraq -- an alliance led by Al-Qaeda in Iraq -- said those detained include high-ranking officers and that they were seized in Diyala province, according to a videotape posted on the Internet.
Footage posted on a website usually used by Islamist militants showed five men in army uniforms and four others wearing the blue uniforms of the interior ministry.
The group demanded the release of all Sunni Muslim women held by Iraqi security forces, and also demanded that officers accused of raping a Sunni woman in Baghdad around three months ago be handed over to them.
Similar demands were made after previous kidnappings, although the Iraqi interior ministry has suggested that in some cases captured civilians were dressed up as police officers before their murder.
On April 19, the same group aired a videotape showing the purported execution of 20 officers after the government failed to meet the same demands made by the group.
The alleged rape of the woman, who appeared in footage broadcast on Arab networks saying she had been violated by interior ministry officers, triggered a bitter row at the highest levels in Iraq.
Some Sunni leaders promoted her claims, but the Shiite prime minister dismissed them, alleging that the rape had been fabricated by Sunni politicians to tarnish the police at the launch of a Baghdad security crackdown.
05/07/2007 16:31 GMT