Eight foreign men described as truck drivers who were held hostage in Iraq have been released, a masked man said on a videotape aired by an Arabic television station on Sunday.
"We have released them in response to a call from the Muslim Clerics Association...after we were sure that they will not deal with the occupation forces again," the man said in the tape on Qatar-based Al Jazeera, which showed the hostages.
They were three from Pakistan, two Turks, an Indian, a Nepali and one from the Philippines.
Looking frightened, the men read out their names, nationalities and ages to the camera.
"We had arrested eight truck drivers who supply the forces of the enemy," the masked man said.