Jakarta vows to free hostages
From CNN Producer Kathy Quiano
JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNN) -- The Indonesian government "will leave no stone unturned" in its efforts to free a pair of Indonesian journalists taken hostage in Iraq, Indonesia's Foreign Ministry has said.
The two journalists were traveling in an SUV from Amman, Jordan to Karbala, Iraq -- about 80 km (50 miles) south of Baghdad -- when they were captured by gunmen, according to their boss, Don Bosco, the news director at Metro TV.
Marty Natalegawa, a spokesman for the Indonesian Foreign Ministry, said the journalists were last heard from Tuesday, shortly after crossing the border from Jordan into Iraq.
"The Indonesian government and the public will leave no stone unturned, and we will use all available tools, to work on the conclusion of this and the release of the hostages," Natalegawa said Saturday.
"We will have to wait and see the next development," he said.
A crisis team from the Indonesian government has been sent to Amman and is working with the International Red Cross to gain their release, he said.
Sasha Yusharyahya, a spokeswoman for Metro TV, identified the two journalists as Meutya Hafid, a woman reporter, and Budianto, a cameraman, The Associated Press reported.
She said the station last had contact with the pair on Tuesday afternoon and was working with the foreign ministry to learn their fate. The two have been in Iraq since Jan. 31, she said.
Hafid just returned from a two-week stint in tsunami-devastated Aceh, while Budianto covered the Iraq war in 2003 for the station.
