Baghdad, Iraq – The 41 hostages freed from an al-Qaeda in Iraq prison this week said they were chosen because their captors hoped they could fetch a $40,000 ransom, or because they worked for the Iraqi government or merely because they were found smoking on the street.
Many of the prisoners said they had been moved from one detention site to another over the course of their captivity, suggesting that significant numbers of captives may still be held in Diyala province, one of the most dangerous regions of the country.
These and other details emerged Tuesday at a video news conference with U.S. Army Lt. Col. Morris Goins, the commanding officer who oversaw the rescue operation.
The youngest among the prisoners freed Sunday, a 13-year- old boy, said he had been held captive because al-Qaeda operatives had spotted him smoking on the street and determined the act to be an affront to Islam, Goins said.
Almost all the captives said they had been given the choice to carry out militant acts for their captors or be killed, and some prisoners indeed were executed, Goins said.
The captives spent most of their days outdoors, confined to mats and fed little more than dates and water, Goins said.
