KUWAIT CITY, July 24 (AFP) - A Kuwaiti company with seven of its truck drivers held captive in Iraq said Saturday it was negotiating with the kidnappers and was prepared to take any measure to guarantee their release.
"The company reaffirms that it is ready to take any measure to ensure the release of the hostages and that it is now negotiating with the kidnappers to free them as soon as possible," Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport chairman Saeed Esmail Dashti said in a statement obtained by AFP.
The company also said it has no presence as such in Iraq and that it is "only transporting material and equipment urgently (needed) by the Iraqi people."
"The company also announces that it had no business in the area where the hostages were taken and their presence (there) was by mistake as they seem to have lost their way," the statement added.
An armed extremist group calling itself the Black Flags has claimed it is holding the three Indian, three Kenyan and Egyptian employees of the firm.
Late Friday, the group offered a new 48-hour deadline to their Kuwaiti employer to meet their demands, according to a video shown on Al-Jazeera.
After earlier demanding that the firm pull out of Iraq, the group is now demanding "payment of damages to families of victims of Fallujah and the release of Iraqi detainees from American and Kuwaiti prisons," the Qatar-based channel said.
The group had originally set a deadline of Saturday, saying it would then start to behead one hostage every 72 hours.
Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Mohammed al-Sabah earlier said his government was consulting with the three countries whose nationals are being held captive.
Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport is operating large-scale transport services to Iraq and has a number of contracts with US-led coalition forces there, company sources said.