An Internet statement purportedly from militants holding two French journalists in Iraq denies they are demanding a $5 million ransom.
"There is absolutely no truth to the statement carried by the media on the Internet ... comprising financial and other demands," said the statement, posted on a Web site identified as belonging to the Islamic Army in Iraq.
The statement also denied the group had set a 48-hour deadline for their demands to be met.
Another statement on the same Web site said the group was warning "any party whatsoever from interfering" in negotiations for the release French journalists Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot, who were both seized on August 20th.
It said the group did not recognise Iraqi sheikh Hisham Duleimi, who has been negotiating for the journalists' release.
"The Islamic Army's legal committee will announce its decision soon, God willing," said the statement.
The statements have not been authenticated but the site carried a picture which it said showed the body of Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni, captured and killed by the group last month.
The site also displayed a picture, which it said one of the French journalists had been carrying, of US Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt - a prominent spokesman for the American military in Iraq - standing next to the son of their Arab driver.
A statement in the name of the same group, issued on Monday, included a demand for a $5 million ransom for Chesnot and Malbrunot.
In demands apparently addressed to the French government, it set a 48-hour deadline, called for acceptance of "truce" terms offered to Europe by al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and sought a promise of no military or commercial dealings with Iraq.