UPDATE: Make that three hostages:

US troops have found three Iraqi hostages in the basement of houses in Falluja, handcuffed and starving, a marine officer said.

"We have found Iraqi hostages in basements, handcuffed by their hands and ankles, starving, thirsty and tortured," said marine Major P.J. Batty, adding that three hostages in total had been found.

A battered hostage, his wrists and ankles shackled to a wall, has been rescued by U.S. Marines moving through Fallujah, military officials said Thursday, providing further evidence that the rebel-held city was being used as a hideout for kidnappers.

Marine spokesman Maj. Francis Piccoli said the hostage was found about 4:40 p.m. Wednesday as troops engaged in a house-to-house sweep as part of the ongoing assault on Fallujah, the rebellious, mostly Sunni city about 35 miles west of the capital. Piccoli said the hostage's nationality was unknown. The rescued man said he was a taxi driver and that he had been held for 10 days without food or water.

In other news, Jeff Quinton confirms something reader Laura sent me this morning, that two Marine Cobra helicopters were shot down in Fallujah. Luckily, it looks like all Marines were accounted for and unhurt from the incident.

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