MOSUL, Iraq (AFP) -- Kidnappers of two Iraqi Catholic priests abducted last weekend in the northern city of Mosul have demanded a ransom of one million dollars for their release, a bishop said on Saturday.

The unknown group issued a payment deadline of Saturday morning for the release of fathers Pius Affas and Mazen Ishoa, who are still believed to be alive, the bishop in Mosul told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The 72-hour deadline was given on Thursday, the last time that negotiators, who are using the mobile phone of Father Ishoa, made contact with the kidnappers, he said.
""The kidnappers are demanding a high price,"" the bishop told AFP. ""The ultimatum ends this morning.""
The kidnappers have been told that only 90,000 to 100,000 dollars is available for the ransom and the bishop said the church was frightened that if the money was paid more abductions might follow.
""We fear an attempt to empty the city of Christians,"" the bishop said. ""We are in a critical situation whether to pay or not. If we pay other priests will be targeted. We have to come out safe.""
----------Larger ransom
Rome-based missionary agency Middle East Concern said on Tuesday that the kidnappers had withdrawn an earlier agreement for the release of the Iraqi priests and demanded a larger ransom.
Father Affas, who is in his 60s, and Father Ishoa, in his 30s, received a letter two months ago warning them that their church would be attacked if they did not leave the city, the agency said.
Father Affas is originally from Mosul, a bastion of the Sunni insurgency, and has been a priest for over 40 years, while Father Ishoa is from a Christian village south of the city, the agency said.
Syro-Catholic Archbishop Basile Georges Casmoussa is in charge of the negotiations to free the priests, according to Middle East Concern.
he day after the priests were abducted, Pope Benedict XVI issued a plea on October 14 for their release.
""I learned today that two priests from the archdiocese of Mosul were kidnapped and threatened with death,"" he said. ""I call on the abductors to rapidly liberate the two clerics and I reiterate that violence does not resolve tensions.""
Iraq's Christians, who form a tiny minority, have been the target of sectarian cleansing, killings and kidnappings at the hands of both Sunni and Shiite Islamists, as well as criminal gangs.
Their churches have been bombed and homes confiscated. Without their own militia to defend them, the community is believed to have shrunk to half its previous number, with more joining the exodus each day.