Italian hostage pleads for troop pullout from Iraq

The undated tape of 57-year-old Giuliana Sgrena, a reporter for Rome-based newspaper Il Manifesto, came as the winners of last month's election, a religious Shia-led alliance, were expected to declare their choice for prime minister.

"I beg you, put an end to the occupation. I beg the Italian government and the Italian people to put pressure on the government to pull out," Sgrena says on the tape, speaking in Italian and holding her hands in front of her in supplication.

It is the first tape of Sgrena since she was snatched on Feb. 4.

The emergence of the tape underlines the dire security situation afflicting Iraq even as the country tries to move forward with the process of forming a new government following its first post-Saddam Hussein election held on Jan. 30.