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    October 25, 2011

Swiss Hostages in Pakistan Appear in Video

   VOA News
   This image shows what is believed to be a Swiss couple, abducted by the
   Pakistani Taliban in Baluchistan, Pakistan, in July this year, taken
   from a militant video that emerged October 25, 2011.
   Photo: AP
   This image shows what is believed to be a Swiss couple, abducted by the
   Pakistani Taliban in Baluchistan, Pakistan, in July this year, taken
   from a militant video that emerged October 25, 2011.

   A Swiss couple being held hostage by the Pakistani Taliban is asking
   officials to give in to their kidnappers' demands, in a [1]video newly
   posted on the Internet.
   The video was made available on the YouTube website Tuesday by the
   Pakistani think-tank FATA Research Center. The group does not say how
   it obtained the footage.
   The couple speaks calmly in German, flanked by four gunmen. The man
   holds a newspaper dated September 15, 2011.
   The Swiss couple were kidnapped in July in Pakistan's southwestern
   province of Baluchistan. The militants have demanded the United States
   release a Pakistani scientist jailed there in exchange for the couple's
   release.
   Kidnappings for ransom are fairly common in Pakistan, and foreigners
   are occasional targets.
   In another high-profile incident, an American development expert was
   kidnapped this past summer in the eastern city of Lahore.

   The 70-year-old, Warren Weinstein, was taken in August after eight
   gunmen overpowered security guards at his home. There were some reports
   that Weinstein had been freed two weeks later, but they proved to be
   untrue.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP and AFP.

References

   1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqOB8HqGOiU