Informant38

Italy's government doubts the reliability of a statement by an Iraqi group that said it killed two female Italian hostages, according to the humanitarian organization that employs the women.

The Jihad Organization said Simona Torretta and Simona Pari, both 29, were killed because Italy hadn't met the group's demand to remove its 3,000 soldiers from Iraq, AFP reported, citing the statement on an unspecified Web site. The workers for the Italian aid group A Bridge to Baghdad were kidnapped on Sept. 7.

The information is ``not very reliable,'' the aid organization said on its Web Site. ``That's what Palazzo Chigi, al- Jazeera and all the other sources that we have consulted say.'' Palazzo Chigi is the building housing Italy's government.

bloomberg 23.Sep.