BERLIN, April 10 (UPI) -- Two German hostages kidnapped in Iraq appeared in a new video that has the German government optimistic the men will be released.
"We remain confident we can resolve this case," Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Monday in Luxembourg, where he attended a meeting with other foreign ministers from the European Union. "At least this is a life sign, and we're happy about that."
A spokesman of Germany's Foreign Ministry said Monday experts from Germany's intelligence and police had examined the video, adding that new information was shared with Steinmeier.
The German government has set up a crisis task force trying to free abductees Rene Braeunlich and Thomas Nitzschke, two engineers from the eastern German city of Leipzig.
The men were taken at gunpoint from their workplace by unidentified men on Jan. 24, in the Sunni triangle in Iraq. Working for German engineering firm Cryotec, they had joined a work stint at an Iraqi oil plant in the industrial town of Baiji.
Rolf Tophoven, a leading German terrorism expert, Monday told news channel n-tv he was confident that the men could be freed.
"Surely the abductors will be smart enough to know that their calls will not be met; that could be a positive signal," he said.
The video, dated March 28, demands the release of all prisoners held by U.S. forces in Iraq.
