Top Iraqi security official believes UK hostages still alive
Sunday, 22 Jun 2008 10:28
The five men were kidnapped outside the country's ministry of finance in Baghdad last May
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Iraq's top security official Mowaffak al-Rubaie has said that five British hostages taken captive last May could still be alive.
He told the BBC that local authorities had received intelligence about their whereabouts.
Speaking to the broadcaster, Mr Rubaie said: "We have a very good, strong intelligence telling us they are alive 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," he added.
His statements come after Right Reverend Michael Lewis visited the country's capital Baghdad to meet with local officials who could help secure the release of those kidnapped.
The Anglican clergyman met with religious figures and government officials such as Ayatollah Hussain Sadr, cousin of the radical Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr and Mr Rubaie.
He also asked the abductors to show mercy and compassion in the treatment of the hostages and to remember the messages they had received from their distressed relatives.
The five British citizens were kidnapped outside the country's ministry of finance in May last year. One of those seized has been identified as IT consultant Peter Moore while the other four captives' identities are yet to be disclosed.
