Video shows missing American in Shia militants' hands

BAGHDAD - A missing Iraqi-American contractor was kidnapped by Shia militiamen who lured him into central Baghdad by promising to help him find distant relatives, an Iraqi defense official said yesterday.

A Shia extremist group, Asaib Ahl al-Haq, claimed responsibility for the Jan. 23 kidnapping and posted a video online that shows a man wearing military fatigues reading a list of demands that includes the release of militants, the prosecution of Blackwater guards and an immediate American troop withdrawal.

A high-ranking Iraqi defense official and an American intelligence official identified the man in the video as Issa T. Salomi, the missing contractor. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.

The Iraqi defense official said Salomi was abducted in the central Baghdad district of Karradah. He said Salomi is of Iraqi origin and that his abductors led him to believe they would help him find family members.

Salomi, 60, of El Cajon, Calif., has been missing since Jan. 23, the Pentagon said in a statement late Friday that gave the first news of Salomi's disappearance.

Salomi was abducted when he was leaving his home in Baghdad, where he has relatives, the official said.

In the video, Salomi says his abductors are demanding the release of militants "that resisted the occupation."

"The second demand is to bring the proper justice and the proper punishment to those members of Blackwater company that have committed unjustifiable crimes against innocent Iraqi civilians," he said. "And to bring justice by proper compensation to the families that have been involved in great suffering because of this incident."