1.   Hamza asserted in the interview that his organization may kidnap American citizens to win the release of its spiritual leader, Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman.

2.   In the past, the government has regularly gotten involved when private American citizens were kidnapped overseas, he said.

3.   Still, Japanese intelligence officials say they are nearly certain that North Korea has kidnapped Japanese citizens over the years.

4.   Two militant Islamic groups threatened Sunday to kidnap American citizens and to target American and Israeli interests around the world with bombings and sabotage.

5.   Political opponents accused Kim of coddling the North while it kidnapped South Korean citizens and sent warships into southern waters.

6.   Also Wednesday, the governor of Cauca state said three German citizens were kidnapped in the southeast of Colombia, presumably by guerrillas.

7.   But they often accuse each other of kidnapping their citizens.

8.   France sent soldiers to southern Chad on Wednesday after four French citizens were kidnapped from a nature park, the French Foreign Ministry said.

9.   Guerrillas also kidnap private citizens for ransom, which they use to finance their decades-old insurgencies.

10.   It also has accused North Korean spies of kidnapping Japanese citizens.