Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh said on Saturday he was optimistic three Indian drivers threatened with beheading by kidnappers in Iraq would be freed, saying their captors simply wanted money.
Everything was being done to secure the release of the three men, Singh told reporters after meeting the family of one of them. "There will be a solution."
"The group is not a political one... these are only some irresponsible men who kidnap people to make money."
A group calling itself the "Black Banners" seized the Indians and four other drivers - three Kenyans and an Egyptian - this week and threatened to start beheading them unless the Kuwait transport company employing them pulled out of Iraq.
But on Friday, they issued a new 48-hour deadline.
They also want India, Kenya and Egypt to withdraw their citizens from Iraq. The three countries are not part of the US-led coalition in Iraq.
India already discourages its citizens from working in Iraq. But hundreds are employed there as cooks, drivers and other labour, generally by Gulf-based contractors.
{{/usCountry}}India already discourages its citizens from working in Iraq. But hundreds are employed there as cooks, drivers and other labour, generally by Gulf-based contractors.
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