Sources close to the investigation, who wanted to remain anonymous, stated yesterday that there have been identified several people, Syrians mainly, involved in the kidnapping of the Romanian journalists.
The information has been made public yesterday by the online issue of the French daily newspaper Le Monde, which also gives some details on the kidnappers. According to the quoted source, the Iraqi police want Hakim Ziab Hamid Hussein Al-Samarai, also known as "Abu Sahar", whose real name seems to be Khaled Al-Akydyi, ever since the 22nd of May, when the Romanian journalists kidnapped in Baghdad had been released. According to a confidential report of the Romanian Information Services, which Le Monde quoted, this man, aged 49, was the connection between the kidnappers of the Romanian journalists (hostages in Baghdad since the 28th of March) and the Muadh Bin Jabal Brigades. They are supposed to have brought the Romanians in the same cellar with the French journalist Florence Aubenas and her Iraqi guide, Hussein Hanoun, on the 1st of April.
THE LIST OF THE KIDNAPPERS According to the Romanian services, the kidnapping of the three journalists, ordered from Bucharest by Omar Hayssam (arrested on the 5th of April), was made in Baghdad by a group specialized in kidnapping foreigners. Out of this group, Le Monde quotes the following: Mahmoud Khaled Al-Omar, Syrian (31) Abdel Jabbar Abbas Jasem Al-Samani (49), Ibrahim Yassin Kaathem Al-Jabouri (36), Omar Jassam Muhammad Ali Al-Salmani (35) and Yussef Munaf Muhammad Amin Al-Amin (34). The last one is Mohammad Munafâs brother, the Iraqi-American guide of the Romanian journalists and Omar Hayssamâs accomplice.
THE OPERATION After kidnapping the three Romanian journalists, the members of this group transferred them to another level, a higher one, to a network specialized in the kidnapping and