BEIRUT: The Iraqi Embassy in Lebanon praised the Lebanese Army for its efforts to secure the release of the three kidnapped Iraqis abducted on May 20, the embassy said in a statement Tuesday.
“As a result of the Iraqi embassy’s work in Beirut with the Lebanese authorities … the [Iraqis] have been handed over to the embassy by the Lebanese Army’s intelligence branch,” the statement said.
The three Iraqis traveled to Lebanon on business to allegedly sign trade contracts with Lebanese citizens in the northern town of Wadi Khaled. They were abducted in the north and tortured by their kidnappers. One of the businessmen escaped and informed the Lebanese authority.
“The Iraqi embassy in Beirut sees this criminal act, which was executed by a Lebanese terrorist group against Iraqi citizens, as going against Lebanon’s support of Iraqi interests,” the embassy said.
The embassy also denied rumors that the Iraqis entered Lebanon using Swedish passports, and said the Iraqis entered the country with their own citizenship.