BERLIN (Reuters) -- Two German hostages held in Iraq since the end of January have appeared in a video pleading for help, German broadcaster N24 reported on Sunday.

The two men in the brief portion aired by N24 were identified by the broadcaster as Rene Braeunlich and Thomas Nitzschke.

Looking distraught and exhausted they were shown in front of a black banner with white Arabic writing on it. One of them, thought to be Nitzschke, could be heard saying in German: "We have been here for more than 60 days. We are at the end of our nerves. Please help us. We cannot bear this any longer. Please help us."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel told a news conference that the government was examining a video of the hostages.

"We have received the video of these two hostages and we are going to examine it thoroughly now," she said. Aljazeera television also aired a brief portion of the tape, showing the two bearded men standing in front of a black banner bearing the name of the Ansar al-Tawhid Wa-Sunna group. According to weekly magazine Der Spiegel, the video had a time stamp from March 28. The magazine also reported the video showed a sign in Arabic reading "This is the last ultimatum for the two German agents."

Braeunlich and Nitzschke were abducted on Jan. 24 outside their workplace in the industrial town of Baiji, 180 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad.

In February, the militant group holding the two, Ansar al-Tawhid Wa-Sunna, issued what it called a final ultimatum before killing the captives unless Berlin met its demands that Germany end cooperation with Baghdad, close its embassy and force all German firms to leave the country.