Clermont County OhArchives News.....Video Shows Kidnapped U.S. Soldier April 16 2004 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/oh/ohfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Kimm Antell Spielmadchen@hotmail.com April 16, 2004, 11:56 pm FOX News Video Shows Kidnapped U.S. Soldier Friday, April 16, 2004 Copyright FOX NEWS BAGHDAD, Iraq — Videotape broadcast Friday showed a tense and frightened U.S. soldier held captive by masked gunmen who said they want to trade him for comrades imprisoned by the U.S.-led occupation. The kidnappers also suggested they were holding other hostages. Pfc. Keith Maupin, 20, of Batavia, Ohio, was the first U.S. serviceman and second American confirmed kidnapped in a recent wave of abductions in Iraq. Wearing a floppy desert hat, he sat on the floor and appeared unharmed in the footage aired on the Arab TV station Al Jazeera (search). During the video, one of the gunmen was heard saying: "We are keeping him to be exchanged for some of the prisoners captured by the occupation forces." Maupin is heard identifying himself by name. "Some of our groups managed to capture one of the American soldiers, and he is one of many others. He is being treated according to the treatment of prisoners in the Islamic religion and he is in good health," the gunman said. At the Maupin home in Ohio, 15 miles east of Cincinnati, a friend read a statement from the family but declined to answer questions. "We'd like to say, 'Matt, we love you and we can't wait until we get to hug you again,'" said Carl R. Cottrell II, the boyfriend of Maupin's sister. He wore a yellow ribbon pinned to his shirt and was flanked by military officers. About two dozen foreigners have been abducted in the past week amid the worst violence Iraq has seen since the U.S.-led invasion on March 20, 2003. U.S. military officials have reported capturing more than 80 insurgents in fighting since April 1. Maupin and Sgt. Elmer C. Krause, 40, of Greensboro, N.C., were listed as missing after their convoy was attacked April 9 outside Baghdad amid a wave of kidnappings blamed on anti-U.S. insurgents. Seven private U.S. contractors also disappeared after the convoy attack, including Thomas Hamill (search), a 43-year-old truck driver from Mississippi, the only other American known to have been captured. American experts were working to determine whether four bodies discovered west of Baghdad were the remains of some of the missing. Most of the recent kidnappings appear to have been carried out by Sunni militant groups, though a few foreigners have been taken by Shiites in the south. U.S. officials are struggling to determine whether there is a central hand behind the various hostage-takers. This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/ohfiles/ File size: 3.0 Kb