An Iraqi militant group with suspected links to al-Qaida ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi threatened to kill two US and one British hostages unless Washington caved in to its demand, the Qatar-based TV channel al-Jazeera reported Saturday.
The Tawhid and Jihad Group, with alleged ties to the Jordanian-born militant al-Zarqawi, said in a videotape obtained by the television that it gave Washington 48 hours to free all female Iraqi prisoners in the Abu Graib prison, otherwise they would execute the three hostages.

Two suicide car bombs exploded in the capital Friday morning as Iraqi security forces -- backed by U.S. soldiers in humvees and Bradley fighting vehicles -- raided residences in a neighborhood suspected of being a stronghold for foreign fighters in a day of violence across Iraq that left at least people 53 dead, including a U.S. Marine.

This has been one of the deadliest weeks in Iraq in recent months as U.S. and Iraqi forces try to dislodge insurgents, whose violent attacks are threatening to destabilize the country further as it heads toward national elections in January. More than 250 Iraqis have died since Sunday.