Iraqi insurgents claim death of American
(AP)
Updated: 2005-12-09 08:35

Another insurgent group, the Swords of Righteousness, has set a Saturday deadline, threatening to kill four Christian humanitarian workers abducted two weeks ago, including an American, two Canadians and a Briton. A French aid worker and a German citizen are also currently being held by kidnappers.

Schulz graduated from Jamestown, N.D., High School in 1983, then joined the Marines. His brother, Ed, said he served in the Marine Corps from 1984 to 1991 and after his discharge, moved to the Anchorage, Alaska, suburb of Eagle River.

Ed Schulz said Thursday that he was advised by the State Department that his brother might still be alive. Their sister, Julie, said the family was "just trying to get some information."

The Rev. Doug Opp, pastor of St. John's Lutheran Church in Jamestown, where Ronald Schulz and his family were members, said before hearing Thursday's news that a prayer vigil was planned for Friday in the church sanctuary. Plans will continue for that until the news from Iraq is confirmed, Opp said.

"We're proceeding (with the vigil) until we know," Opp said.

Iraq has seen a sudden surge of kidnappings of Westerners in the past month after a relative lull. The last time insurgents announced the killing of American hostages was Sept. 21, 2004, when al-Qaida in Iraq said it had killed Jack Hensley, a civil engineer from Marietta, Ga., and Eugene "Jack" Armstrong, formerly of Hillsdale, Mich. They had been abducted days before along with a British engineer Kenneth Bigley, who was also killed.

On Aug. 2, 2005, New York freelance journalist Steven Vincent and his female Iraqi translator were abducted at gunpoint. His body was discovered that night south of Basra. The translator was seriously wounded and remains hospitalized.

Vincent was killed shortly after he wrote a column published in The New York Times claiming Basra police were of being infiltrated by Shiite militiamen. A senior British official said Islamic militants �� and not Iraqi police �� probably killed him.