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U.S. Muslim Group Urges Release of Hostage

Members of a Washington-based Muslim group flew to Baghdad, Iraq Saturday and appealed for the release of American journalist Jill Carroll as a deadline set by kidnappers passed with no word on her fate. The delegation had hoped to meet with Iraqi Muslims to explore ways to win the journalist`s freedom.

Two members of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a civil rights group, sought the release of Carroll, a 28-year-old freelancer for the Christian Science Monitor abducted Jan. 7 in Baghdad. Meanwhile, on Saturday the U.S. military said that a suicide car bomber killed two Marines a day earlier in the Anbar provincial town of Haqlaniyah, Iraq, northwest of Baghdad.

At least 12 Iraqis died in bombings and shootings across Iraq over the weekend as well. Speaking at Baghdad International Airport, the group`s executive director Nihad Awad said "We are the only people who have come from outside of Iraq to call for Jill`s release and we are very hopeful they will hear our message on behalf of American Muslims. Harming her will do them no good at all. The only way is to release her."