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Threat to kill American hostage

CAIRO, JUNE 16. An Islamic Web site screened a videotape of an American hostage in Saudi Arabia, saying he would be killed unless the Saudi Government freed all its Al-Qaeda detenus by Friday night. Paul Johnson (49) of Stafford Township, New Jersey, was abducted on Saturday by a group calling itself Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The organisation is believed to be run by the Al-Qaeda's chief in the kingdom, Abdulaziz Issa Abdul-Mohsin al-Moqrin, who was identified as speaking on the tape that appeared on the Web site late on Tuesday.

``My name is Paul Marshall Johnson, Jr.,'' the blindfolded hostage says in the tape, his head in profile and an elaborate tattoo on his left shoulder. ``I am an American. ... I work on Apache helicopters.'' The tape, which was first aired by CNN, displayed Mr. Johnson's identification card for Lockheed Martin, the major U.S. defence corporation that employs him.

— AP

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