BAGHDAD, Sept 2 (AFP) - A newspaper controlled by the Iraqi prime minister on Thursday blamed French President Jacques Chirac's refusal to help in Iraq for the kidnapping of two French journalists.
In an editorial headlined "Chirac you did not hear our pleas", the Baghdad newspaper said: "Chirac, who wants to present himself as fair, must take his share of responsibility in the kidnapping of his two compatriots as he opposed all international resolutions aimed at restoring Iraqis' security."
The newspaper is the mouthpiece of Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's party, the Iraqi National Accord.
The two French reporters were seized by Islamic militants demanding France rescind a ban on Islamic headscarves in state schools that took effect on Thursday and their fate remains unknown.
Another editorial in the same paper complained that France was proud not to have helped topple the regime of Saddam Hussein and had remained silent while "terrorist attacks were being carried out against the Iraqi people and infrastructure".
"Now (France) can's sit still. Its envoys are everywhere, including in Iraq, calling on all Iraqi parties to intervene to free their citizens."
The current situation should "persuade the French government to modify its position and understand that terrorism does not stop at Iraq's borders," the paper said.
France was one of the most vocal opponents of the US-led war on Iraq and has vowed not to send troops to the country, even in a peacekeeping capacity.