U.S. forces in Iraq said on Wednesday they were holding eight women prisoners, after the abductors of an American journalist threatened to kill her if the authorities did not free all Iraqi women within 72 hours. "We have eight females. They are being held for the same reasons as the others, namely that they are a threat to security," said Lieutenant Aaron Henninger, a spokesman for the U.S. military detentions operation. Some 14,000 men are held at Abu Ghraib and other jails on suspicion of insurgent activity, the Associated Press reported. Arabic television station Al Jazeera aired a brief video on Tuesday night showing Jill Carroll, 28, a freelance journalist working for the Christian Science Monitor. It was the first glimpse of Carroll since gunmen kidnapped her in a Baghdad street on Jan. 7 and killed her translator. The video showed Carroll speaking to the camera, although her voice was not broadcast. In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the United States would "make every effort to work with the Iraqis to bring her back safe and sound as soon as possible". An Iraqi Justice Ministry official said there were a number of women among about 7,000 people being held in civilian Iraqi jails under its control, although he did not have an exact figure. All had been convicted of common crimes.
