French optimistic on journalists' release

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BAGHDAD -- A Paris newspaper editor said there had been positive movement in the effort to free two captive French journalists yesterday, while a separate militant group said it had killed three Turkish hostages.

The kidnappers in Iraq have handed over the French pair to an Iraqi Sunni Muslim opposition group, Jean de Belot, managing editor of Le Figaro newspaper, said on France Info radio.

But he stressed that their status wasn't completely clear. "We must be prudent in this kind of mixed-up situation because we know well that until the good news arrives, we can't let ourselves be absolutely reassured."

French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier was cautiously optimistic.

"According to the indications, which were given to us and we are studying at this moment with caution, Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot are alive, in good health and are being well treated," Mr. Barnier said at a press conference in Amman, Jordan.

In the other kidnapping case yesterday, Arab television station Al Jazeera reported that it had received a video from a militant group in Iraq linked to al Qaeda showing the slaying of three Turkish hostages.

The station said it had a statement claiming responsibility from Tawhid and Jihad, a group linked to Abu Musab Zarqawi, a Jordanian militant held responsible for a string of bombings, kidnappings and other attacks in Iraq.

Turkey's Foreign Ministry in Ankara and the Turkish Embassy in Baghdad both said they had no information on the fate of the men.

The French effort to win the release of its hostages became urgent after a deadline passed for Paris to revoke a ban on the wearing of Muslim head scarves in public schools that went into effect yesterday.

A militant group calling itself "The Islamic Army of Iraq" said it had kidnapped the reporters and demanded that France lift its ban on Islamic head scarves in public schools. But the government refused.