From CNN, with thanks to JJP Mackie:
(CNN) — The Arabic language news network Al Jazeera aired pictures Sunday of what it said were two Russian electrical workers taken hostage last week by an Islamic group in Dura, south of Baghdad.
A statement from a group referring to itself as Jaish al-Tifa al-Mansoura — the Army of the Victorious Sect — said it was holding the men and called on countries participating in “this criminal act,” presumably the war in Iraq, to withdraw their citizens “before it’s too late.” …
“We are showing the whole world our prisoners’ pictures and how the Muslim mujahedeen are treating them,” the previously unknown group said in the statement, which accompanied the tape.
“We have decided to punish America and its followers, and we’ll destroy the crusaders’ imperial dream,” the statement continued.
The men were working for the electric power consortium Inter Energo Servis when their vehicle was ambushed south of Baghdad. Another IES worker was killed in the attack, a company spokesman said.