French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin declared Monday France's skepticism about a statement published on a website to put forward new conditions on the release of the two French journalists held in hostage in Iraq.

Raffarin told RTL radio that French authorities "always take this kind of information seriously." adding: "The claims have been met with a lot of skepticism from experts."

"We are trying to verify the validity of these claims. For the moment, that has not happened," he said at the start of a debate with Francois Hollande, leader of the opposition left-wing Socialist Party (PS).

An Islamist website diffused earlier Monday a statement in the name of the kidnappers of the two journalists, demanding France to accept in 48 hours three new conditions for their release: agreeing to a recent truce offered by al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, payment of US$5 million ransom and a pledge not to get involved in Iraq militarily or commercially.

Christian Chesnot of Radio France Internationale, Georges Malbrunot of the daily Le Figaro and their Syrian driver were reportedly kidnapped in Iraq on Aug. 20 by an extremist group calling itself the Islamic Army in Iraq.

The kidnappers demanded that France revoke its ban on the Islamic headscarf and other "conspicuous" religious insignia in public schools. Paris rejected the demand and implemented the law as planned when the school year started Thursday.

In his trip to the Middle East to gain the release of the two hostages, French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier, who is now on a visit to Kosovo, declined to comment on an alleged ransom of US$5 million.

European leaders have already dismissed the supposed al Qaeda truce offer made by bin Laden in April, saying the idea of negotiating with bin Laden was absurd.

(Xinhua News Agency September 7, 2004)