A Kuwaiti paper said that the two kidnapped Italian aid workers in Iraq were in good health and being treated well by their kidnappers, Italian News Agency ANSA reported on Sunday.  

The Al Ray Al-Aam, Kuwait's top newspaper, said the kidnappers would not release the women Simona Pari and Simona Torretta, until Italian troops were withdrawn from Iraq.

The daily said it had been told by its sources that "all mediation attempts will be rejected unless Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi's government respects the kidnappers' request for the complete withdrawal of Italian forces from Iraqi territory."

"They are determined not to free them until their demand has been met," it said.

It also said two Iraqi aid workers kidnapped along with the Italians were being used as interpreters.

The paper denied recent claims that the two had been or were about to be killed.

It said its sources had confirmed that the two women had been kidnapped in order to "send a clear message to the Italian people and the Silvio Berlusconi government: that the Iraqi people denounces the sending of Italian troops to Iraq and calls for the courageous decision to withdraw them, like the Spanish government which pulled its troops out in order to retain its friendly ties with the Iraqi people."

Italy has some 3,000 troops serving in Iraq and Berlusconi has repeatedly said that they will remain there for as long as the government considers necessary.

Torretta and Pari, both 29, were kidnapped on September 7 along with two Iraqi aid workers.

Italian intelligence has cast doubts on the reliability of the death claims.

On September 12, a group calling itself the Islamic Jihad Organization said it would kill the women within 24 hours if Italian troops were not pulled out of Iraq.

On Thursday, the group said in a statement posted on the Internet that the hostages had been killed.

On the same day, a group claiming to support al-Qaeda No.2 Ayman al-Zawahri said it had beheaded the two women.

(Xinhua News Agency September 27, 2004)