BAGHDAD, Oct 4 (AFP) - Two Indonesian women taken hostage by an Islamic militant group in Iraq were released unharmed and handed over to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) embassy here on Monday.
Istiqomah binti Misnad and Novitasari binti Sugito, both from East Java province, appeared in shock after their three-day ordeal but were otherwise in good health.
"They took us when we were on the road from Amman. They put us in a cell but I don't know near which city it was. I was scared but they did us no harm and treated us well. Then they decided to release us," Sugito told AFP.
The two young women were coming to Iraq reportedly to work as maids for two Lebanese nationals contracted by an Iraqi electronics company.
The two Lebanese, as well as six Iraqis travelling with them were all kidnapped by the Islamic Army in Iraq, according to a videotaped claim aired by the Arab satellite news channel Al-Jazeera on Saturday.
"We were held separately from the others. I don't know what happened to them," said Sugito, before accompanying her friend to a medical check-up.
UAE charge d'affaires Ali al-Kaabi told AFP that the two hostages had not complained of any ill-treatment but could not say when the pair were due to leave the country.
"They were dropped by a car in front of the embassy at around 12:00 pm (0900 GMT) today. This is how we found out," he said, adding that would be turned over to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The militant group which kidnapped them demanded Jakarta release a radical Indonesian cleric, Abu Bakar Bashir, suspected of links with Al-Qaeda and of involvement in deadly bombings in Bali in 2002.
Al-Jazeera said Monday that the group announced in a statement it had freed the hostages at Bashir's request.
The channel aired a video from the group purporting to show the two women receiving copies of the Koran, but it was not clear when the footage was recorded.