by Omar Hasan
KUWAIT CITY, Sept 1 (AFP) - The Kuwaiti employers of seven truck drivers freed Wednesday after being held hostage in Iraq said after the group arrived here that they had not ceased operations in Iraq and had paid more than half a million dollars as ransom to the kidnappers.
"We did not cease our operations in Iraq" as demanded by the kidnappers, Kuwait Gulf and Link (KGL) president Saeed Ismail al-Dashti told reporters after receiving the seven drivers at Kuwait airport.
"At present, the company transports to certain destinations inside Iraq, under heavy security protection, and Iraqi companies undertake internal distribution," he said.
KGL had announced August 27 it had decided to stop working in Iraq in response to the kidnappers` demands.
Dashti said the company last paid half a million dollars to the abductors to secure the hostages` release, but other payments had been made before.
He declined to disclose the amounts of the previous payments.
Islamist militants released the three Indians, three Kenyans and Egyptian earlier Wednesday after holding them hostage for six weeks.
The seven drivers arrived aboard a chartered small passenger plane after a two-hour journey. They were welcomed by top officials and their countries` respective ambassadors.
They appeared in good health but looked exhausted. The three Indians and the Egyptian were immediately whisked out by embassy officials to awaiting cars without speaking to reporters.
One of the Kenyan drivers, Faiz Khamees, told AFP the kidnappers "treated them well" except on the first day when they were mistreated. He declined to elaborate.
"After they caught us, they blindfolded us. They took us to a house and kept us blindfolded for most of the time in a single room," said Khamees, who and the other two Kenyans were helped by embassy officials to speak to their families back home.
Company officials said the workers will stay at the firm`s camp for a few days and it will be up to them if they want to go home.
Dashti said his company, the leading transport firm in Kuwait, has a contract worth some 100 million dollars annually with the US forces in Kuwait, but the scope of the contract could go beyond the emirate`s borders.
"We will continue to send our trucks and drivers into Iraq but we will not force anyone to go ... We put our vehicles under the US forces` disposal and they do what they want," Dashti said.
A militant group calling itself the Black Banners Brigade of the Secret Islamic Army (SIA) freed the seven hostages on Wednesday after 42 days in capitivity.
The kidnappers declared victory, boasting that they had forced the hostages Kuwaiti employer to leave Iraq and vowing to carry out more attacks on anyone assisting US troops.
"After our demands have been met by forcing the Kuwaiti company, which is transporting goods to the infidel Americans, to withdraw from Iraq, we have decided to release the seven hostages held by us.
"We swear by God not to be merciful with those who help the occupier and we vow to strike them with an iron fist," the statement said.
The release came just hours after a Turkish lorry driver who had been held hostage in Iraq since August 7 was freed by the same group.
Turkish news channel NTV showed truck driver Tahsin Top being freed by his his captors.
However, another 12 Nepalese hostages were murdered by their captors, according to pictures shown on an Islamic website on Tuesday, and France is still trying to release two journalists held since August 20.
At least 100 foreigners have been kidnapped by insurgents in Iraq since April as rebels look to hobble reconstruction efforts and derail the country`s new government.