Video grab taken on Jan. 18, 2005 from the pan-Arab al-Jazeera TV channel shows the eight Chinese nationals kidnapped in Iraq. (Xinhua photo)

Eight Chinese nationals were kidnapped by militants in Iraq, the Chinese Embassy in Baghdad confirmed on Tuesday.

Embassy diplomats said they were making all efforts to rescue the eight hostages, who went missing last week while traveling to Jordan.

Sources said the Chinese, from China's southern province of Fujian, were construction workers in a project to rebuild an Iraqi plant.

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Kong Quan expressed Tuesday China's deep concern over the kidnapping of eight Chinese nationals in Iraq.

"China's Foreign Ministry is taking all measures to rescue the hostages," the spokesman told reporters in Beijing.

The eight kidnapped persons are ordinary Chinese citizens whowent to Iraq on individual basis to seek jobs by themselves in the country, Kong said.

Since they failed to find any work, they rent an automobile to leave Iraq but were kidnapped on the way, he added."The Chinese people has always cherished friendly feelings toward the Iraqi people and sympathized and supported them," Kong said.

They said the project, signed with Iraq's interim government,has nothing to do with the US-led multinational forces.A video tape aired by the al-Jazeera TV channel on Tuesday showed the eight hostages holding Chinese passports standing in arow, flanked by masked militants.

The pan-Arab channel did not release the text all at once, but part of the statement read out by one militant indicated that the group could free the hostages on condition that they "will quit their work with the occupation forces."

In a handwritten note delivered with the tape, the insurgent group calling itself al-Numan Brigades threatened to "kill the eight within 48 hours" unless China meet their demands.

By People's Daily Online