January 31, 2006

Hostage Video: Germans Given 72 Hour Ultimatum

Another day another hostage video from the ghouls at al Jazeera television. This time the video shows German civilians Thomas Nitzschke and Rene Braeunlich. The two engineers have been threatened with death if Germany does not break diplomatic relations with Iraq.

An earlier video had been broadcast on al Jazeera two days ago which was dated Jan. 24th, the day the Germans were abducted.

The group calls itself the Tawhid and Sunnah Brigade (unification and 'way of the Prophet'). While the AP is reporting that the group is 'unknown', the name is actually very well known. It is associated with a subgroup of Jaish Ansar al-Sunnah. Ansar al-Sunnah is thought to be made up of Kurds of the former Ansar al Islam terrorist organization. Dozens of people with ties to Ansar al-Islam have been arrested and tried in Germany in the past several several years (example).

If this Tawhid and Sunnah Brigade is the same group that is associated with Ansar al-Sunnah (sometimes criminal organizations simply adopt an Islamic sounding name) then the hostages are in grave danger. The Army of Ansar al Sunna has murdered dozens of civilian hostages in the past.

We pray that these hostages will be released unharmed.

AP:

The brief tape Tuesday showed Thomas Nitzschke and Rene Braeunlich seated on the floor in front of a group of armed men. Al-Jazeera said the previously unknown group, the Tawhid and Sunnah Brigade, demanded the German government close its embassy in Baghdad, withdraw all the German companies from Iraq and to stop cooperation with the Iraqi government.

On a related note: Is al Jazeera making money from these hostage videos by selling them to the Western press?