Italian hostage in Iraq to be freed 'within days': website

DUBAI, Feb 7 (AFP) - An Islamist group which had threatened to kill an Italian journalist held hostage in Iraq unless Rome announced a pullout of its troops by late Monday said she would be released "within the next few days", according to a website statement.
"After the religious committee in the Organization for Jihad investigated Giuliana Sgrena, it was established unquestionably that the Italian captive is not spying for the infidels in the Land of Two Rivers," the statement, posted late Monday, said in a reference to US-led troops in Iraq.
"And in response to the appeal of the Committee of Muslim Scholars, we in the Organization for Jihad will release the Italian captive in the next few days," added the statement, whose authenticity could not be verified.
It came hours after another statement posted on the Internet and attributed to the same group said that Sgrena's fate would be decided imminently.

02/07/2005 18:57 GMT - AFP