Indonesian journalists freed in Iraq: Sunni leaders
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-02-21 14:51

Two Indonesian journalists taken hostage in Iraq have been freed by their abductors, a member of the Sunni Muslim authorities in the Iraqi city of Ramadi say.

The journalists' release was also reported by the Al Arabiya TV channel, which quoted its correspondent in Baghdad.

Metty Hafid, mother of freed Indonesian reporter Meutya shows her daughter's photo in Jakarta in front of a picture of fellow journalist Budiyanto. Two Indonesian journalists taken hostage in Iraq have been freed by their abductors, a member of the Sunni Muslim authorities in the Iraqi city of Ramadi say. [AFP/File]

A member in Ramadi of the country's main Sunni organization, the Committee of Muslim Scholars, said reporter Meutya Hafid and cameraman Budiyanto had been released in the town.

The abduction, which took place last week as the two were driving along a dangerous road from Jordan to Baghdad, had been claimed by a previously unknown Islamist group, the Jaish al-Mujahedeen, or Army of Warriors.

In the Indonesian capital Jakarta, a high-ranking diplomat with the foreign ministry, Umar, said that the government was "still trying to confirm" the reported release.

"If it's true that they have been released, we are relieved and thank God Almighty," he told AFP.

Ramadi is part of the so-called "Sunni triangle," in which insurgent groups are particularly powerful.

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