Pakistani hostage in Iraq is freed
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A Pakistani man who had been taken hostage by insurgents in Iraq has been released, Pakistani officials said Friday.
Amjad Yusef Hafeez, a worker for KBR, a subsidiary of Halliburton, who was abducted last Friday in Iraq, is now in Kuwait.
"It is great news for us and our nation," said an official with the Pakistan Embassy in Baghdad.
The Information Ministry in Islamabad confirmed the release.
KBR issued a statement saying it "is very pleased and relieved to learn" about the release, which came on the same day abductors released two Turkish hostages.
Insurgents had threatened to behead Hafeez unless the United States released all prisoners in Iraq and Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, closed the country's embassy in Baghdad.
In a videotape provided to CNN and other news channels over the weekend, the kidnapped man is shown surrounded by masked men brandishing AK-47 rifles and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.
The Pakistani Foreign Ministry said Hafeez was a driver employed in Kuwait who was ferrying supplies to the Iraqi city of Balad.
The Pakistani's captors said they were following in the footsteps of the Islamic militant group Unification and Jihad, which is blamed in the killings of South Korean translator Kim Sun-Il and American businessman Nicholas Berg.
Hafeez's uncle, Nasir Shaheen, said the family talked to Hafeez and want him to return home, at least for a visit.
In its statement, KBR said it has "lost 41 personnel while performing services under our contracts in the Kuwait-Iraq region." It says there are no details available on two other missing workers, Tim Bell and William Bradley.
From Correspondent Ash-har Quraishi in Islamabad and Producer Tomas Etzler in Baghdad
