Austria responsible for hostages' "fate" - Qaeda

DUBAI (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's North African wing said on Monday that Austria would be responsible for the fate of two Austrian hostages after failing to meet new, lesser demands by the group, according to an Internet statement.

"We have done all we can but it seems that Austria is not serious about preserving the lives of its citizens and it is now ... alone responsible for the lives and the unknown fate of the kidnapped," the group said in the statement.

Al Qaeda did not set a new deadline after its previous ultimatum expired at midnight on Sunday and the statement, posted on an Islamic Web site, did not say what the fate of the hostages would be.

Austria's Foreign Ministry said it was unable to comment on the new posting until the Web site had been carefully checked.

"These talks are ongoing via the channels of communication that we have already established," ministry spokesman Peter Launsky-Tieffenthal said.

"We have the understanding that more time will be available and this will hopefully lead to the safe release of Andrea Kloiber and Wolfgang Ebner," he added.

The group said it had changed its demands and was now only seeking the release of a Muslim couple held in Austria. It also demanded that Vienna end its "symbolic" participation in the Afghan conflict.

In previous postings on Islamist Web sites, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb had demanded the release of 10 militants held in Tunisia and Algeria and, according to security sources in Algeria, a cash ransom.

Kloiber, 43, and Ebner, 51, disappeared in February while on holiday in Tunisia.