A Polish woman was taken hostage by an Iraqi armed group, the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera TV channel reported on Thursday.  

A video tape aired by the Arabic-language satellite channel showed a woman seated between two masked men, one of whom was pointing a gun at her head. A black banner with the name of "Abu Bakr Siddiq Al-Salafiya" was also seen in the footage.

The group called for the withdrawal of Polish forces in Iraq in exchange for the release of the woman.

Poland, which stood firmly with the United States in launching the Iraqi War last year, takes control of a 6,000-strong multinational force in a sector south of Baghdad, 2,500 of them Polish soldiers.

On Tuesday, a group led by al-Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said that it had taken hostage a Japanese man in Iraq and gave the Japanese government 48 hours to withdraw its forces from the country, the request rejected by the Japanese government.

Iraqi insurgents have frequently kidnapped foreigners in an attempt to force foreign troops or companies to withdraw from the war-torn country. Many of the hostages were released unhurt, but dozens were killed.

(Xinhua News Agency October 29, 2004)