Iraqi security forces have arrested a person who said he was responsible for the kidnapping of two French journalists abducted and later released in Iraq, a Defense Ministry official said Monday. Iraqi army soldiers detained Amer Hussein Sheikhan in the Mahmoudiya area on April 4, said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity. "He confessed that he was behind the abduction of the Frenchmen," the official said of Sheikhan. No further details were available. Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot were released in December after four months in captivity. French journalist Florence Aubenas, of the daily newspaper Liberation, and her guide, Hussein Hanoun, were kidnapped Jan. 5. A video released on March 1 showed a weary and distraught Aubenas pleading for help.
