Al-Qaeda-linked fighters holding 45 Fijian peacekeepers hostage in Syria have issued a set of demands for their release, including the group's removal from a UN terrorist list and compensation for the killing of three of its fighters in a shootout with international troops, according to a Fijian official.
The Nusra Front seized the Fijians last week in the Golan Heights, where a 1,200-strong UN force monitors the buffer zone between Syria and Israel. The rebels also surrounded two Filipino units, but those UN troops escaped over the weekend.
Speaking in the Fijian capital of Suva, military commander Brigadier General Mosese Tikoitoga said on Tuesday the Nusra Front had made three demands for the peacekeepers' release: to be taken off the UN terrorist list; the delivery of humanitarian aid to parts of the Syrian capital of Damascus; and payment for three of its fighters it says were killed in a shootout with UN officers.