India In Touch With Baghdad To Try And Secure Release Of Hostages

ISLAMABAD, July 21 (AFP) - New Delhi is working to secure the release of three Indians taken hostage by insurgents in Iraq through its embassy in Baghdad, an Indian official said Wednesday.
"We have just heard the news," spokesman Navtej Sarna said in a statement released by the Indian High Commission here.
"We are in touch with our embassy in Baghdad to find out all possible details and to liaise with the Iraqi authorities to seek an early release of the persons who are reported to be kidnapped, and to ensure their safe return."
Sarna is in Islamabad for a South Asian foreign ministers conference.
A group calling itself "Black Flags" said earlier on Wednesday in a video aired by Al-Arabiya news channel that it had taken three Indians, two Kenyans and an Egyptian hostage in Iraq and threatened to kill them if the Kuwaiti firm for which they work does not pull out of the country.