Killings shock, humiliate Nepalese
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 Militants have killed 23 hostages in Iraq in recent months.
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KATHMANDU, Nepal (CNN) -- Protesters in Kathmandu have expressed disbelief and frustration after learning of the deaths of 12 Nepalese hostages in Iraq.
Nepal's ambassador to Qatar, Somananda Suman, confirmed the deaths Tuesday and said the government had requested that the bodies be returned to Nepal.
He said the men were hired by a Jordanian company to work in Amman and then taken to Iraq to work. Nepal forbids its citizens to go to Iraq.
Reporter Akxilesh Upadxyay, who was in Kathmandu, told CNN that many Nepalese felt humiliated, and believed the men were killed because Nepal is a small, poor country.
An emergency Cabinet meeting was convened.
Nepalese heard the news Tuesday evening and rallied until about midnight. No violence was reported.
An Islamic Web site had posted still images and a video of what it said was the killing of the Nepalis held hostage by a militant group in Iraq calling itself Jaish Ansar al-Sunna. (Full story)
The group claimed last week to have kidnapped 12 Nepalese citizens "for their cooperation with the United States in fighting Islam and its people" and described them as working for a Nepalese company that works under a Jordanian firm doing business in Iraq.
The deaths are the largest mass killing of captives in the grueling war against the insurgency that has followed the toppling of Saddam Hussein.
Jaish Ansar al-Sunna, which claimed August 23 to have kidnapped the 12 Nepalis, said they were killed "for their cooperation with the United States in fighting Islam and its people."
The claims come at a time that another Islamic group is holding two French journalists hostage, threatening to kill them unless the government of France revokes a law banning Muslim girls from wearing head scarves in state schools.
The deadline for executing the two, which would have come Tuesday night in Baghdad, has been pushed back to Wednesday night, an Arab League official said.(Full story)
CNN has confirmed 23 hostages killed by militants in Iraq. The dead include one American, two Bulgarians, a Dane, two Italians, one Lebanese, two Pakistanis, a South Korean, a Turk and the 12 Nepalis.
In four other incidents, different groups have claimed to have killed hostages, but CNN has been unable to independently confirm any of the information.
In the most recent, a video posted in early August shows a man claiming to be an Egyptian spying for the Americans before he is decapitated.
