BBC NEWS Five foreigners kidnapped in Iraq Four Americans and an Austrian have been kidnapped from a convoy of civilians in southern Iraq, US and Iraqi sources have said.
The convoy of 19 vehicles, operated by a Kuwait-based security service, was attacked on Thursday. Unconfirmed reports said the incident took place at a bogus checkpoint. Nine other civilians were released. Sunni-linked insurgents have killed dozens of kidnapped foreigners but most abducted in the south have been freed. Reports said the convoy was attacked near Basra as it headed for the city of Nasiriya. The foreigners taken were all security contractors. A spokesman for Crescent Security Group, which operated the convoy, said the nine civilians who were freed included men from India, Pakistan and the Philippines. An Iraqi security source told Reuters news agency that British troops had cordoned off an area near Basra suspecting a number of missing men were being held there. British forces declined to comment and the report could not be independently verified. The Crescent Security Group spokesman told Associated Press: "I'm not sure what the British and US military have put in motion, and I don't want to release too much information in case it compromises whatever they may be doing." Crescent works mainly in Iraq. Its website says it "conducts convoy escort duties for an ever-growing number of coalition militaries, embassies, government contractors". The family of an American man, Paul Reuben, 39, confirmed to US media it had been informed that he was among those captured. His sister-in-law, Jennifer Reuben, said he had called last week to say he planned to come home because of increasing violence. Nasiriya is the capital of Dhi Qar province, which was returned to Iraqi control in September. Hijackings and abductions are frequent in southern Iraq but those kidnapped are generally freed, unlike in the Sunni strongholds further north. Baghdad abductions Separately, there is still confusion over the kidnapping of scores of education ministry workers in Baghdad on Tuesday. Sunni and Shia leaders cannot agree whether all the hostages have now been freed. The Sunni higher education minister said more than half the 150 victims were still being held. But interior ministry spokesman Brig Gen Abdul-Karim Khalaf said all the ministry employees were free, although some others taken from the building were still being held. Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/6157082.stm Published: 2006/11/17 09:43:32 GMT © BBC MMVI Post message: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] List owner : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
