Berlin: The kidnappers of two German hostages in Iraq on Tuesday gave the German government a 72-hour deadline to meet their demand that it severe ties with Baghdad.
The deadline was contained in a second video on the hostage taking, which was aired by Qatar's al-Jazeera television network.
The German network did not show any of the footage but said it wanted to have a close look at the video before deciding on whether to air it.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said last week that the life of the two engineers, who were abducted on January 24, was "of the highest priority" for her government and called on their kidnappers to release them immediately.
"The German government condemns this cruel kidnapping in the strongest terms," Merkel had said in a statement to journalists.
She said her government was working closely with the relevant bodies in Germany and Iraq to attempt to secure their release.
In a first video, which had also been shown by Al-Jazeera the kidnappers asked Germany to immediately pull out its embassy from Iraq, halt all cooperation with the Iraqi government and help free women detained in Iraqi prisons.
In the video, the two Germans, Rene Braeunlich and Thomas Nitzschke, were filmed with armed masked men standing behind them.
The two engineers spoke but could not be heard.
Al-Jazeera said they called on their government to do everything it could for their release.
The kidnappers claim to belong to a group calling itself Ansar al-Tawheed wal Sunnah.
The engineers, who worked for German gas equipment installation company Cryotec, were snatched near the Baiji oil refinery compound by armed men in military uniform.
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