Captors Of Lebanese Hostage In Iraq Announce His Release

BEIRUT, Aug 24 (AFP) - The kidnappers of a Lebanese national held in Iraq for more than a week announced his release in a videotape broadcast by a private television station here Tuesday.
Mohammad Raad, 27, was freed "in response to an appeal from the Committee of Muslim Scholars", Iraq's leading Sunni clerics' organization, the kidnappers said in the footage broadcast by LBC telvision.
Reiterating their accusations that Raad had worked for US-led troops in Iraq, they called on the Lebanese people to "stop their fellow-citizens collaborating with the occupation forces".
From Bednayel in eastern Lebanon, Raad was held by a group calling itself the Islamic Movement of Holy Warriors in Iraq -- Seif al-Islam Brigades.