Al-Qaeda in Iraq has said its fighters have captured 20 Iraqi puppet soldiers and policemen in northeast Baghdad.
In an internet statement released on Saturday, the Islamic State of Iraq said the men would be killed unless the so-called "government" released all Sunni women held in Iraq's prisons within 48 hours.
The mojaheds also posted still images showing the captives dressed in brown army and blue police uniforms, blindfolded and handcuffed.
The mojaheds demanded the release of "Muslim Sunni sisters who are in the prisons of the interior".
"The Islamic State of Iraq gives the government of [Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki] 48 hours to meet its demands or it will execute the rule of God on them," it said.
The Iraqi puppet "government" has not yet responded to the group's claim or to its demands.
The mojaheds also said the government should hand over to it agents from Iraq's "interior ministry" who are accused of involvement in the widely publicised alleged rape of a Sunni woman.
The alleged rape of the woman known by the pseudonym of Janabi, who appeared in footage broadcast on Arab TV networks saying she had been raped by "interior ministry" officers, triggered a bitter row at the highest levels in Iraq.
The photos of the 20 men posted on the internet, of various ranks, included a security unit commander, according to the picture of his ministry identification card.
The statement did not say when the men were captured.
KC
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