A militant group kidnapping three family members of Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi threatened yesterday to kill them if Allawi doesn't order a withdrawal from the besieged Fallujah.

In a statement, the group known to be Ansar al-Jihad (Partisans of Holy War) claimed responsibility for the abduction and threatened to behead the three if Allawi fails to meet its demands in 48 hours.

"We demand the agent government liberate all the prisoners in Iraq, women and men, and lift the siege over Fallujah and stop the military action against the city," said the previously unknown group.

The authenticity of the statement, published on a website, could not be verified independently.

Earlier reports said that a first cousin of Allawi, the cousin's wife and his daughter-in-law were kidnapped on Tuesday evening from their house in Baghdad.

Three cars with at least six men inside pulled up to the house in Baghdad's southern district of Al-Kadisiya, from where they took Ghazi Allawi and his two family members, an official source was quoted as saying.

Allawi, who leads the current Iraqi interim government, was the latest victim of the rampant wave of abduction. Over 100 foreigners and relatives of wealthy figures have been kidnapped in Iraq for political or financial purposes.

The abduction followed a joint US-Iraqi all-out offensive in Fallujah, a long-time rebel bastion since the war last year, to clear the city of insurgents.

Allawi issued this week the order to start a state of emergency across Iraq and authorized US and Iraqi forces to storm Fallujah. The iron-handed move has also aroused disputes among the Iraqi society.

There has been no report of suspension in the ongoing military action so far. Allawi often made remarks that his government would not bow to kidnappers and criminals.