A deadline set by militants who have threatened to behead two Americans and a Briton seized in Iraq was due to expire yesterday, and more than two dozen other hostages were also facing death unless rebel demands were met.

A group linked to Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who Washington says is its top foe in Iraq, said in video footage posted on the Internet Saturday it would slit the throats of the Americans and Briton unless all Iraqi female prisoners were released from Abu Ghraib and Umm Qasr jails.

The families of the men – Americans Eugene Armstrong and Jack Hensley and Briton Kenneth Bigley – have appealed for their release. The men were seized from their house in Baghdad Thursday by a group of gunmen.

The US military says no women are being held in the two prisons mentioned by the kidnappers. It says two women are in US custody. Dubbed “Dr Germ” and “Mrs Anthrax” by US forces, they are accused of working on Saddam Hussein’s weapons programs and are in a prison for high-profile detainees.

Zarqawi’s Tawhid and Jihad group has claimed responsibility for most of the bloodiest suicide bomb attacks in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein, and has already beheaded several hostages including US telecommunications engineer Nicholas Berg in May and South Korean driver Kim Sun-il in June.

The group released Filipino captive Angelo de la Cruz in July after Manila bowed to its demands to pull its troops out.

The United States has offered $25 million for information leading to the death or capture of Zarqawi, and has launched a series of air strikes on his suspected hideouts in Falluja.

<B>French no longer captives</B>

Two French journalists were seized a month ago, and two female Italian aid workers were kidnapped in broad daylight in central Baghdad earlier this month.

A statement purportedly from the group holding the French said at the weekend they were no longer captives but had agreed to stay with the group for some time to cover its activities. The authenticity of the statement could not be verified.

Another group has threatened to kill 10 workers from a US -Turkish firm unless the company that employs them stopped doing business in Iraq within three days. Most of the workers seized are believed to be Turkish.

Sunday, a guerrilla group said it had captured 18 members of Iraq’s National Guard and would kill them unless the authorities freed an aide to Shi’ite rebel cleric Moqtada al-Sadr within 48 hours. The aide, Hazem al-Araji, was arrested Saturday night by US-backed forces, Sadr’s supporters said.

Sadr’s aides said they did not support the kidnapping of the National Guardsmen and urged their release.

<B>Doubts over election</B>

Hundreds of Iraqis were killed in a surge of violence over the past week, casting doubt on whether elections can go ahead in January 2005 as scheduled. But interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi insisted Sunday the polls would take place on time.

“We definitely are going to stick to the timetable of elections in January next year”, Allawi told a news conference after talks in London with British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The US military says it has launched a drive to regain control of rebel-held areas ahead of the elections. Iraq’s stagnant economy and lack of employment opportunities are feeding instability, Allawi said Monday in an article in Britain’s Independent newspaper.

“The economic and security situations are intertwined: without peace and security there can be no sustainable reconstruction ... yet what is feeding the instability and chaos is the lack of jobs and economic opportunity,» Allawi said. Blair and Allawi said at the weekend they were working to resolve the latest kidnappings.

Bigley’s brother, Phillip, appealed to the kidnappers on Al Arabiya television, saying: “Ken is a loving and caring father ... and he is looking forward to becoming a grandfather for the first time in February.” He added: “At the end of the day, we just want him home, safe and well, especially for my mother.”