The American journalist appeared veiled and weeping in the video broadcast by Arabic satellite channel Al Jazeera on Monday night. Her voice could not be heard on the tape but Al Jazeera said she called for US forces and the Iraqi Interior Ministry to release all women in their custody.

It was the first glimpse of Carroll since her kidnappers released a video on January 17 in which they threatened to kill her within 72 hours if women prisoners were not released. The deadline had passed with no word on her fate.

"We will not make concessions to terrorist demands," US military spokesman in Iraq Lieutenant Colonel Barry Johnson told Reuters. The United States says it does not negotiate with kidnappers or terrorists.

He said US forces were continuing to work with Iraqi authorities "to resolve the situation as quickly as possible." US and Iraqi soldiers have staged several raids on homes and a mosque in their hunt for her.

The US military released five women prisoners last week, but both they and Iraqi officials insisted the move had been pre-planned and was not linked to the hostage-takers' demands.

US forces say they continue to hold at least four more women security detainees. The Iraqi government has been pressing for the release of the women; the detention of women offends Iraqis and the U.S. military seeks to avoid it in most cases.

"The American journalist kidnapped in Iraq urged her family and Americans around the world to demand that U.S. military forces and the Iraqi interior (ministry) release all Iraqi women prisoners," Jazeera said on Monday.

"She said that this would help in her release," the station said, without giving further details.

The Interior Ministry holds up to 2,000 suspects, the United Nations says, and was the focus of controversy when US troops found dozens of abused Sunni men in a secret jail last year.

An Iraqi Justice Ministry official said there were a number of women among about 7,000 people being held in civilian jails under its control, although he did not have an exact figure.

Carroll, 28, a freelance journalist working for the Christian Science Monitor, was abducted in Baghdad on January 7 by gunmen who also killed her Iraqi interpreter on the spot.

There has been a spate of kidnappings of foreigners in Iraq over the past few months after a lull during most of 2005. Four Christian peace activists -- a Briton, an American and two Canadians -- are still being held captive, as are two Kenyan engineers and a Jordanian embassy driver.