AMMAN - The kidnappers of a Jordanian businessman in Baghdad are demanding a ransom for his release, a Jordanian foreign ministry official said Tuesday, ruling out political motives for the abduction.
The source, quoted by the official news agency Petra, said the ministry had been informed by friends of Samir Rajab al-Suqi of the ransom demand. There were "no political motives" to the kidnapping, he said.
The Jordanian embassy in Baghdad was making contacts to try to secure the release of Suqi, who was kidnapped on Sunday, the official said.
On Monday, the kidnap victim's brother appealed to his captors to release Suqi, saying he was merely a branch manager of a firm with business in the war-torn country.
He manages the Amman branch of the Kuwaiti Midas furniture company, said Khaled al-Suqi, who lives in the United Arab Emirates. He said his brother, a 40-year-old Sunni Muslim, was married with three children.
Police in Baghdad said the Jordanian businessman had been abducted by six gunmen in the center of the Iraqi capital.
Several Jordanians, most of them truck drivers, have been abducted in Iraq since the downfall of Saddam Hussein in April 2003 but most of them returned home unharmed, although in some cases relatives said a ransom was paid.
04/26/2005 19:07 GMT