CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - An Arab television channel aired a silent 20-second videotape Tuesday night of hostage American reporter Jill Carroll and said an accompanying message gave the United States 72 hours to free female prisoners in Iraq or the journalist would be killed. Al-Jazeera would not tell The Associated Press how it received the tape, but issued its own statement calling for Carroll's release.
The tape showed the 28-year-old reporter sitting in front of a white background and speaking, but her voice could not be heard.
Carroll, a freelance reporter for The Christian Science Monitor, has not been heard from since she was grabbed Jan. 7 in one of Baghdad's most dangerous neighborhoods. Gunmen ambushed her car and killed her translator shortly after she left the offices of a Sunni Arab politician.
The Boston-based Christian Science Monitor said Saturday that it continued "to pursue every possible avenue" to win her release.
The U.S. military raided a prominent Sunni mosque a day after Carroll was kidnapped, sparking a demonstration by hundreds of worshippers. A U.S. military official said the raid was a necessary immediate response to the kidnapping based on a tip provided by an Iraqi citizen.
Insurgents in Iraq have kidnapped more than 240 foreigners and killed at least 39 of them.
