CAIRO, Sept 25 (AFP) - The Muslim Brotherhood denounced Saturday the abduction of six Egyptians in Iraq and called for their immediate release, saying the action was counterproductive to the Iraqi resistance.
"We condemn and denounce this action and believe that it does not conform to basic Islamic principles and tarnishes the image of the resistance," the Brotherhood said in a statement received by AFP.
Egypt's Orascom telecom issued a statement Friday confirming that six Egyptians, two engineers and four technicians, were among eight employees of the firm's Iraqi unit seized earlier in the week.
"We call on the kidnappers to fear Allah ... their religion and country and free them immediately, so that smiles can return to the faces of their relatives and children," said the Brotherhood.
The statement also called on "the resistance" to adopt legitimate means and isolate individuals with "deviant ideas" who want to discredit the resistance.
"Determining the enemy and the battlefield requires ... discipline regardless of the conditions," the statement added.
The banned but occasionally tolerated Brotherhood represents the most formidable ideological and political challenge to the ruling National Democratic Party of President Hosni Mubarak.
The Brotherhood says it wants to establish a theocratic system in Egypt through peaceful means.