Arabs and Muslim demonstrators gather on the Trocadero Esplanade in Paris in solidarity with the kidnapped journalists (AFP)

PARIS, September 1 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - A delegation of French Muslims was set to travel to Baghdad on Wednesday to help secure the release of two journalists held captive by militants in Iraq.

Seven truck drivers, meanwhile, were released Wednesday by their Iraqi kidnappers in the restive town of Fallujah after their Kuwaiti employers agreed to cease its operations in Iraq following six weeks of marathon negotiations.

The delegation from the French Council for the Muslim Religion (CFCM) -- the country's officially recognized Muslim body -- was to head for the Iraqi capital late in the day, spokesman Slimane Nadour told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The French foreign ministry said it had given its "agreement in principle" for the trip but could not confirm when the delegation would be leaving Paris.

Tensions were high in France as the country waited for news of the two journalists, Radio France correspondent Christian Chesnot and Le Figaro reporter Georges Malbrunot, one day after the kidnappers' ultimatum expired.

The militants are demanding that Paris rescind a ban on hijab and religious insignia in state schools, a law due to come into force Thursday, September 2, at the start of the academic year.

French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier was in Qatar on the latest leg of a Middle East mission to save the lives of the two newsmen, who went missing in Iraq on August 20.

The hostage-taking has prompted a unanimous outcry in France, including a strong condemnation from the country's five-million-strong Muslim community -- even from those who staunchly opposed the headscarf ban in schools.

Prominent Muslim leaders joined Tuesday, August 31, a global chorus of condemnation over the kidnapping of the two French journalists.

7 Truckers Released

The seven truck drivers pray prior to their release (AFP)

Good news for Egypt, Kenya and India as other kidnappers on Wednesday released seven truck drivers held hostage in Iraq for six weeks in the western city of Fallujah.

The hostages -- three Indians, three Kenyans and an Egyptian -- were set free by a group calling itself the Black Banners Brigade of the Secret Islamic Army (SIA) and then gave interviews on Al-Arabiya television, said AFP.

The seven, who were seized on July 21, appeared happy and healthy as they spoke at length with the Dubai-based channel.

Asked how they were treated, Egyptian hostage Mohammad Sannad said: "They taught us religion and how to pray."

All seven truck drivers were then whisked to the Indian embassy in Baghdad and then to the airport, a source at the embassy said.

The kidnappers declared victory, boasting that they had forced the hostages Kuwaiti employer to leave Iraq and vowing to carry out more attacks on anyone assisting US troops.

"After our demands have been met by forcing the Kuwaiti company, which is transporting goods to the Americans, to withdraw from Iraq, we have decided to release the seven hostages held by us.

"We swear by God not to be merciful with those who help the occupier and we vow to strike them with an iron fist," they said in a statement.

The truck drivers' employer, the Kuwait Gulf and Link (KGL) company, announced August 27 it had decided to stop working in Iraq in response to the kidnappers' demands.

The release came just hours after a Turkish lorry driver who had been held hostage in Iraq since August 7 was freed by the same group.

Turkish news channel NTV showed truck driver Tahsin Top being freed by his his captors.

According to an AFP count, at least 100 foreigners have been kidnapped by militants in Iraq since April.

Parliament Attacked

Meanwhile, Iraq's interim parliament, which was sworn in on Wednesday, was rocked by mortar fire near the high-security building where the lawmakers were gathered.

One person was injured in the attack, an AFP correspondent said.

One of the mortar rounds landed near a checkpoint where people were being searched.

The mortar fire rocked the building where the assembly's 100 delegates were gathering to be sworn in.

The assembly's members will be tasked with advising the interim government in the run-up to the planned January 2005 elections.

Several prominent figures of the Iraqi political scene and former members of the now-defunct US-appointed Governing Council were not present to take the oath and had sent delegates.

Among them were the two main Kurdish leaders Jalal Talabani, Massoud Barzani, independent Kurdish politician Mahmmoud Othman, as well as Abdelaziz Hakim, a senior Shiite leader from the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, and former Sunni interior minister Samir Sumeida.