Iraq group claims kidnapping

BAGHDAD, July 6 (UPI) -- A group claiming responsibility for kidnapping an Iraqi Parliament member has demanded the withdrawal of coalition troops, an Iraqi official has said.

The alleged kidnappers, who claim to have seized Tayseer al-Mashhadani in Baghdad Saturday, issued their demands to the lawmaker's political party, the Iraqi Accord Front, CNN reported Thursday. The group contacted the Sunni political coalition using Mashhadani's cell phone and demanded the withdrawal, the freeing of all prisoners and an end to mosque attacks, an unidentified Iraqi lawmaker announced.

A three-day deadline was set for the demands, at the end of which the group said Mashhadani would be killed, the lawmaker said.