The kidnappers of an American journalist in Iraq have threatened to kill her unless the United States frees all Iraqi women prisoners. Al Jazeera TV aired a short video apparently showing Jill Carroll speaking to the camera, but without broadcasting her voice.

The 28-year old was working for "The Christian Science Monitor" when she was seized by unidentified kidnappers earlier this month.

Her Iraqi interpreter was killed. There has been a spate of kidnappings of westerners in Iraq over the past few months after a lull during most of 2005.

Carroll is the 31st. journalist kidnapped in Iraq since the US-led invasion in March 2003, according to the Paris-based group Reporters Sans Frontieres.

PHOTO CAPTION

The body of an Iraqi translator working for an American journalist Jill Carroll is recovered from the roadside, Saturday, Jan. 7, 2006, in Baghdad, Iraq. (AP)

Source: Euro News