Report: Al-Zarqawi group takes more hostages
Kuwaiti company official meeting captors of 7 other truck drivers
 |  The kidnappers gave the two hostages' Turkish employers 48 hours to stop working in Iraq. |
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 Saddam sampling life behind bars
 Powell: Kidnappings could deter support.
 Indian hostage families critical of government
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(CNN) -- A group linked to terrorist mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi announced Saturday that it has kidnapped two drivers working for a Turkish company supplying goods to U.S. forces in Iraq, Al-Jazeera reported Saturday.
In a videotape broadcast on the Arabic-language network, the Unification and Jihad group said the company must stop its activities in Iraq within 48 hours or the militants will behead the two.
CNN Turk identified the two as Abdulrahman Demir and Sait Enver. They work for a Turkey-based company called Karamanli.
The video showed three masked men and the two hostages, who are showing documents.
CNN has not independently verified the report.
Thursday, Al-Jazeera reported that a Somali truck driver had been kidnapped by Unification and Jihad. The network reported the man works for a Kuwaiti company, which also was given a 48-hour ultimatum. There is no word on the fate of the Somali.
The group has taken responsibility for beheading U.S. businessman Nicholas Berg, South Korean translator Kim Sun-il and two Bulgarian truckers.
Another Turkish truck driver seized earlier in the month in Mosul has been freed, CNN Turk reported Saturday.
Meanwhile, an official from a Kuwaiti trucking company and representatives of another group holding hostages are meeting in an effort to free seven truck drivers.
"I hope that this will end in peace and for the lives of the hostages to be spared," Sheikh Hisham al-Dulemi told CNN.
The group, which calls itself the Islamic Secret Army Black Banners Brigades, said it is holding three Indians, three Kenyans and an Egyptian who work for the Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport Co (KGL).
Al-Dulemi said the hostage-takers are demanding compensation for 250 families of those killed by U.S. attacks in Falluja.
The hostage negotiations apparently are being held in central Baghdad in the same building where al-Dulemi spoke with CNN.
The seven men have been in captivity since early last week.
U.S.: 20 insurgents killed in Falluja
The U.S. military has estimated that about 20 insurgents were killed in battle with U.S. forces during recent fighting in Falluja.
The fighting started when a 1st Marine Expeditionary Force position came under mortar attack Thursday night, leading to a larger firefight that lasted into Friday morning, the military said.
The Marines were hit with rocket-propelled grenades, small-arms fire and mortars.
A military statement said the Marines directed their return fire at "enemy mortar men" who were seen firing several hundred meters away from the Marines' position.
It said the enemy fled the area after the return fire and that "enemy activity temporarily ceased after being engaged with the tanks and artillery."
The Marines, backed by air support, also fired on insurgents who "fled to buildings near the eastern edge of the city."
Other developments
On Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell made a surprise visit to Baghdad and acknowledged that the recent rash of kidnappings could deter countries from participating in Iraq's reconstruction and security. Powell arrived in Iraq after stopping in Saudi Arabia, which has suggested a plan to send troops from Muslim countries to Iraq. (Full story)The head of a school for teachers was killed Friday afternoon in a town 40 miles (65 kilometers) south of Baghdad in what Iraqi police said was a drive-by assassination. Dr. Isma'il al-Kilabi, chief of the teachers' institute in the town of Mahmoudiya, was walking home from the noon prayer at a mosque when he was shot by four masked gunmen in two cars, Iraqi Police Col. Abdul Kahrim said.CNN's Matthew Chance, John Vause, Alphonso Van Marsh, Elise Labott and Andrea Koppel contributed to this report.
