China urges action on hostages
No word on fate of other civilians held by insurgents
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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- China has urged Iraq to help rescue seven of its nationals kidnapped by gunmen in Fallujah.
Beijing's Foreign Ministry has also set up a diplomatic team to coordinate efforts to have the men released.
The men were reportedly abducted as they were traveling from the Jordanian border toward Baghdad, China's official state news agency Xinhua reports.
Chinese State and Communist Party leaders said Monday they were "very concerned" about the kidnapping and instructed the Foreign Ministry and embassy in Baghdad to begin rescue work urgently, the ministry said in a statement.
Iraq should "take all necessary measures to identify the kidnappers and whereabouts of the hostages, and to rescue them safely," the ministry said.
The Chinese embassy has also been in active contact with the Iraqi Governing Council and other relevant people, requesting their help in securing the release of the hostages.
Al Arabiya television, meanwhile, says it has received a videotape from hostage-takers with footage of the captives that it planned to air.
It is unclear why the men -- who range in age from 18 to 49 and were all from Fujian province in southern China -- were traveling in Iraq.
Xinhua reported the men might have taken a detour as they were traveling to Baghdad because the normal route from the Jordanian border to the capital has been closed by recent fighting.
In other hostage developments, British citizen Gary Teeley was been released on Sunday, but there was no word on other civilians held by insurgents, including an American and three Japanese.
Teeley, who lives in the Middle East, was reported missing Thursday and released Sunday.
An American hostage, identified as Thomas Hamill, was shown Saturday on news video by the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
The video indicated Hamill was captured between Baghdad and Fallujah, 35 miles (56 kilometers) west of the capital, where U.S. Marines have been fighting insurgents for control of the town.
The network showed a car stopping on a highway and armed masked men getting out and asking journalists to look at Hamill, who was sitting in the back seat next to a gunman.
A journalist asked Hamill what happened, and he replied in a slight Southern U.S. accent that "they attacked our convoy. That's all I'm going to say." He gave his name, then the men got into the car and drove off.
It was unclear if Hamill was referring to an incident Friday when a fuel convoy was attacked near Baghdad International Airport.
The Pentagon said two U.S. soldiers and four civilian contractors -- some of them Americans -- are unaccounted for after the fuel convoy was attacked. The four worked for the same company.
One U.S. soldier and an Iraqi driver were killed in the incident, and 12 people were wounded.
Arabic-language network Al-Jazeera later broadcast video of Hamill sitting in front of an Iraqi flag.
A voice, apparently from one of the abductors, said if U.S. troops did not leave Fallujah by Sunday morning he would "be treated worse than the four Americans that were killed in Fallujah."
The latter was a reference to the killings of four civilian contractors March 31. Their remains were dragged in the street and hanged from a bridge over the Euphrates River.
Meanwhile, the Japanese Kyodo news agency reported that the three Japanese hostages would be freed at early Sunday. But that deadline also passed with no word on whether the hostages were let go.
The kidnappers threatened to burn the Japanese hostages alive Sunday unless Japan pulls its troops out of Iraq. (Full story)
About two hours after the deadline, Japan's Jiji news agency reported that Al-Jazeera said the hostages had been released. Al-Jazeera denied reporting that.
The three Japanese civilians -- a journalist, a nongovernmental organization worker and an aid worker -- were kidnapped last week, as were an Arab man from Jerusalem and a Syrian-born Canadian, both aid workers.
Germany's Foreign Ministry said there is a "high probability" that two German security workers missing in Iraq are dead.
They were en route from Amman, Jordan, to Baghdad to work as security guards for the German Embassy when their convoy came under attack Wednesday, according to German state media.
The rest of the convoy arrived in Baghdad, according to the media reports. German officials do not expect to confirm the deaths for several days, until the bodies are recovered.
Seven South Korean Christian missionaries were released Thursday after kidnappers held them for several hours.
-- CNN Beijing Bureau Chief Jaime FlorCruz, Arabic Editor Caroline Faraj, Octavia Nasr and Claudia Otto contributed to this report.
