Region | Iraq
Five Britons kidnapped in Iraq still alive, says top official
Five Britons who were kidnapped in Baghdad more than a year ago are still alive, Iraq's most senior security official told the BBC on Saturday.
- Agencies
- Published: 10:25 June 22, 2008
London: Five Britons who were kidnapped in Baghdad more than a year ago are still alive, Iraq's most senior security official told the BBC on Saturday.
Mowaffak Al Rubaie, Iraq's national security adviser, said authorities had "very good, strong intelligence telling us they are alive".
Rubaie added, "And we roughly know the area where they are … But we don't want to be aggressive in our approach, not to risk their lives."
The Britons - a computer instructor and his four bodyguards - were seized by a Shiite militant group from inside an Iraqi Finance Ministry building in a raid in Baghdad in May 2007.
There was no news of the men until a video featuring one of the hostages was released last December. It included a statement from his captors threatening to kill him unless Britain pulled its troops out of Iraq.
A second video was released in February, this time featuring a second hostage who appealed for the release of nine Iraqis in return for the Britons' freedom.
The BBC said Rubaie was speaking after a visit to Baghdad by a senior Anglican churchman, who appealed for the men to be released for their families' sakes.
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