Earlier reports had said that 3 British citizens were kidnapped in Iraq. It looks like it might have been 2 Americans and 1 Briton. But you know what they say: "All infidels look alike". Also, the Aussies have decided to send in the SAS, or Special Air Services. From what I hear, these guys mean business. It should be noted, though, that the Aussies have not been able to verify that any of their citizens are missing. News stories below.

Also on the scene: Jeff Quinton, Diggers Realm, Command Post, Slant Point Channel News Asia:

Confusion reigned over the nationalities of three Westerners abducted in Baghdad, as Iraqi police said they were two Americans and a Briton, after the interior ministry said they were three Britons.

"The people kidnapped were two Americans and a Briton," said a colonel from the Maamun police station that oversees operations in the plush Mansur district of the Iraqi capital where the three hostages were seized by gunmen.

He said the hostages worked for a supply company but declined to elaborate and insisted on withholding his name.

An interior ministry spokesman said earlier that three British civilians had been snatched from their home at dawn.

"We've heard the report from the interior ministry and we're trying to get to the bottom of it," US embassy spokesman Richard Schmierer told AFP.

A British spokeswoman said only that the embassy was desperately trying to determine what had happened.

"We are aware of these reports and we are urgently seeking information. We're just trying to verify what happened," she said.

A SPECIAL Air Service team last night flew out for Iraq as part of a contingency plan to rescue hostages should a claim that two Australian security guards have been kidnapped by terrorists be substantiated.

And an Australian Federal Police team, specially trained for a hostage crisis in the Middle East, was on standby to negotiate with the Horror Brigades of the Islamic Secret Army.

The terrorists claimed on Monday night they would kill the two Australians unless John Howard pulled Australia's 300-troop contingent out of Iraq within 24 hours.

The terrorists claimed they had seized two Australians and two Asians, apparently their clients, near the Iraqi city of Samarra.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said last night 147 Australian civilians out of 202 working in Iraq had been accounted for. Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade officials were checking on the remaining known 55 -- though there could be more.

The Government had a list of 154 Australians employed as aid workers, security workers or general contractors, but the actual number of Australians believed to be in Iraq was much higher, Mr Downer said.

Mr Downer said it could take several days to account for all Australians in Iraq and to determine "whether the threat was real or a hoax".

Last night there had been no further word from the Islamic Secret Army since its claim it had kidnapped the four men on the highway from Baghdad to the northern city of Mosul was made in a statement in the Sunni Muslim stronghold of Samarra on Monday night.

As the SAS team of between 12 and 30 troopers flew to Iraq, Canberra had got no closer to verifying the threat.

Posted by: Rusty at 10:08 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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