Iraq hostage deadline expires
(CNN) -- The deadline set by Iraqi militants holding Australian hostage Douglas Wood has passed, with no news on his fate.
The passing of the deadline comes as a Japanese man, working for a British security firm in Iraq, is the latest victim thought to have been kidnapped by Iraqi militants, as violence in the war torn country escalates.
The Australian government was given 72 hours until 5 a.m. local time Tuesday (1900 GMT Tuesday) to begin withdrawing its troops from Iraq, a demand it has refused to meet.
The kidnappers gave no indication of what might happen to Wood if the troops did not start pulling out.
The last images of the 63-year old engineer, who is in ill health, were broadcast on Saturday showing him beaten and with his head shaven pleading for his life.
The Shura Council of the Mujahedeen of Iraq claims to have kidnapped him.
"We haven't heard anything ... we just don't know what to think and we are continuing to work on the case," Foreign Minister Alexander Downer told Australian radio Tuesday morning.
"It's too unpredictable. The sense we have is that the people who have taken Douglas Wood are more politically driven. So that makes it hard to know how to handle it," Downer said.
Wood's family are hoping that a mercy dash by Australian Muslim leader Sheik Taj Din al-Hilaly could help secure his release.
Sheik al-Hilaly is expected to arrive in Iraq Tuesday and is carrying a message from Wood's family who have offered to make a sizeable donation to the people of Iraq, should Wood be released.
Meanwhile kidnappings continue to be an almost daily occurence in Iraq.
Most recently militant group the Ansar al-Sunnah Army claimed on a Web site posting on Monday that they had taken 44-year-old contractor Akihio Saito hostagee, after ambushing a convoy in western Iraq.
The British security firm Hart said its employees were attacked on Sunday and a number remain unaccounted for, including Saito.
Workers from countries including the United States, Turkey, Lebanon, the Philippines, Romania, Egypt, Jordan and France are still being held by various militant groups in Iraq.
Violence have escalated in the country with more than 300 people killed since the new Iraqi transitional government was sworn last week.
American forces in Iraq meanwhile have battled "insurgents and foreign fighters" this weekend near the nation's border with Syria, killing at least 75 people in 24 hours, the U.S. military says. (Full story)
Australia sent about 2000 troops to take part in the 2003 invasion of Iraq but reduced that contingent to about 950 after the ousting of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
However it announced plans in February to send another 450 troops to help train Iraqi security forces and guard a Japanese engineering contingent working on reconstruction projects.
Howard's decision to take part in the war was not popular, but voters returned his center-right coalition to power in September, and rejected an opposition candidate who had promised to withdraw if elected.
