ITALY: Against the background of confusing and contradictory reports, Italy yesterday anxiously awaited definite news on the fate of Simona Torretta and Simona Pari, the two Italian aid workers taken hostage in Baghdad on September 7th, along with their Iraqi colleagues Raad Ali Abdul Azziz and Mahnouz Bassam, writes Paddy Agnew in Rome
Separate claims posted by two different Islamic groups on the internet claimed that the two women had been killed following the refusal of the Italian government to withdraw its 2,700 strong military contingent from Iraq.
Italian intelligence sources, however, described the claims as "unreliable". The Lower House Speaker, Pierferdinando Casini, said the government was treating the claims "with total suspicion".
The fact that two different and little-known groups, Islamic Jihad Organisation and Supporters of Al-Zawahri, both in the space of 12 hours claimed to have killed the two NGO workers has prompted several observers to harbour hope that the two 29-year-old Italian women may still be alive.
Early yesterday morning Islamic Jihad Organisation reported that "in the name of God the merciful" the "two Italian prisoners" had been killed by having their throats cut. Around midday yesterday, however, the Supporters of al-Zawahri, named after Osama Bin Laden deputy Ayman al-Zawahri, claimed that "the two criminal Italian intelligences agents" had been beheaded.
The fate of the "two Simonas" has dominated Italian news coverage over the last two weeks, whilst yesterday's internet claims prompted non-stop TV and radio programmes devoted exclusively to them and their ordeals.
Italian public opinion has been outraged by their kidnapping not only because the two women were aid workers, opposed to US military intervention and dedicated to helping poor and needy Iraqis, but also because the kidnapping itself appears anomalous.
Over the last week, Italian media have highlighted the claims of Sheikh Abdul Salam al-Kubaisi, a Baghdad-based Sunni cleric with ties to various resistance groups, that the two Italian women were taken hostage not by Islamic militants but rather by "foreign intelligence" groups.
Last week, NO LOGO author Naomi Klein suggested the rationale for the kidnapping of the two women might be an attempt to paint them as naïve peaceniks, unwittingly supporting an Iraqi resistance that answers international solidarity with kidnappings.