Kidnapped Woman Urges U.K. to Leave Iraq

[RedEarth]

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A kidnapped British aid worker made another plea for her life in a video aired Wednesday, urging Britain to withdraw troops from the country as some 800 British soldiers headed north toward Baghdad to bolster U.S. forces.


The tape broadcast on Al-Jazeera television showed a distraught Margaret Hassan, the 59-year-old head of CARE International in Iraq (news - web sites), blinking back tears as she spoke.


"Please don't bring the soldiers to Baghdad. Take them away. Please, on top of that, please release the women prisoners," she said.


No group has claimed responsibility for her abduction. But followers of Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi made the same demand for the release of female prisoners in the abduction of two Americans and a Briton last month. All three were beheaded.


On Wednesday, Britain began redeploying some 800 troops toward the restive area south of Baghdad area in a move aimed at freeing up U.S. forces for an assault on insurgent areas north and west of the capital.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&e=4&u=/ap/20041027/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq