Iraqi Qaeda says it will kill 20 soldiers, police

DUBAI (Reuters) - A group linked to al Qaeda said on Tuesday it had decided to kill 20 Iraqi troops and policemen whom it had kidnapped, after the government failed to meet a deadline to free female prisoners, according to a Web statement.

"Our Islamic court ... has ruled (to execute) them and we shall soon issue pictures of it," said the Internet posting from the self-styled Islamic State in Iraq.

On Saturday, the group said it was giving the government 48 hours to free all Sunni Muslim women held in Iraq's prisons, saying otherwise it would kill the 20 men, whose pictures it published.

It also demanded that the government hand over to it Interior Ministry agents accused of involvement in the widely publicized alleged rape of a Sunni woman and other reported rapes and killings of Sunnis.

Saturday's statement said the 20 men of various ranks, one of whom was identified by his Interior Ministry identification card as a security unit commander, had been abducted northeast of Baghdad. It did not give the date of the kidnappings.

Islamic State in Iraq, formed last year by al Qaeda's wing in Iraq and several smaller Sunni insurgent groups, has claimed responsibility for mass kidnappings and a series of major attacks. Last month it shot dead 18 people, mostly police officers, whom it had kidnapped.