Free the Captives: Witness Against Illegal Detention and Torture

There was no news Thursday February 2 of the fate of Tom Fox and the other CPT peaceworkers held captive in Iraq.

We appeal once more to those holding them – release these innocent men, who are peaceful friends of God and the Iraqi people!

Elsewhere in the area, most reports reflected continuing violence.

from Reuters:

Two car bombs explode in Baghdad, 16 killedTwo car bombs killed at least 16 people and wounded 65 others in Baghdad on Thursday, police sources said.

The sources said one car bomb exploded in a market and the other in a petrol station. Hospital sources said they expected the number of casualties to rise.

Sunni insurgents are waging a campaign of suicide and car bombings, shootings and assassinations in a bid to topple the Shi'ite-led government.

from Aljazeera: Two journalists kidnapped in Iraq

Two Iraqi correspondents working for a satellite television channel have been kidnapped in Baghdad.

Police and station officials said on Thursday that Reem Zaid, 23, and her colleague Marwan Khaza'al, 25, were returning to the offices of Sumariya TV in Baghdad on Wednesday after attending a press conference when they were kidnapped by gunmen.
 
Many Iraqi media outlets are also controlled by various political factions inside and outside the government, but the Sumariya official said that the station was privately owned by Iraqis and had no links to any political group.

from Reuters:

A roadside bomb killed three U.S. soldiers south of Baghdad on Wednesday and another died of his wounds in a separate shooting attack in the Iraqi capital, the U.S. military said on Thursday. The military also reported that a Marine died of his wounds from small arms fire near Falluja.

On Tuesday, the U.S. military said that a soldier died in a vehicle accident in Falluja on January 28.

The following are the latest figures for military deaths in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, in line with the most recent information from the U.S. military:

U.S.-LED COALITION FORCES:

United States 2,248 Britain 100 Other nations 94

IRAQIS: MILITARY Between 4,895 and 6,370

CIVILIANS Between 28,287 and 31,891 [Other plausible estimates put the civilian toll above 100,000.]

Bush to seek $70 Billion for Iraq, Afghanistan wars-sources

President George W. Bush will ask Congress for another $70 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, congressional sources said on Thursday.

The sources said that money, which would come on top of about $330 billion for the wars so far, would be for this fiscal year. The White House likely will seek another $50 billion in emergency money in the fiscal 2007 defense spending bill for the wars, the sources said.

Iraq police find 14 bodies, bound and blindfolded

Police discovered 14 bodies showing signs of torture in Baghdad on Thursday, an Interior Ministry source said.

The corpses were blindfolded, with hands tied behind their backs, he said.

Some of the victims had been beheaded or repeatedly stabbed, said the source.

Many bodies showing signs of abuse have been found in Iraq in recent months as sectarian tensions have risen against the backdrop of a Sunni Arab insurgency that has killed thousands of people.

Mothers plead for lives of German hostages in Iraq

The mothers of two German engineers kidnapped in Iraq pleaded for their sons' lives on Thursday as their government said it was still trying to make contact with the captors.

The mothers of Rene Braeunlich and Thomas Nitzschke were filmed by ARD television making an appeal which was due to be shown later by Arab broadcaster Al Jazeera.

"We have seen our sons on television. We are very afraid for their lives," said one of the women, whose names and location were not given.

"Thomas and Rene travelled to Iraq with no political motive. They never intended to harm your country. We appeal to your charity and mercy and ask you with all our hearts to spare our innocent sons. Please, let Thomas and Rene go free," said the other mother, her voice almost breaking.

The two engineers were abducted on Jan. 24 outside their workplace in the Iraqi industrial town of Baiji, 180 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad.

In a video dated Jan. 29 and broadcast by Al Jazeera on Tuesday, the kidnappers set a 72-hour deadline for Germany to end its cooperation with Iraq and close its embassy in Baghdad.