Two of the remaining three British hostages in Iraq are believed to have died in captivity in a bitter twist to Britain’s longest-running kidnap crisis in two decades.
The families of security guards Alan McMenemy, from Glasgow, and Alec MacLachlan, from South Wales, were told last week that it was likely the men were dead, The Times learnt today.
Two other guards, kidnapped at the same time in May 2007, were shot dead and their bodies returned to Britain last month. It is not yet known how Mr McMenemy and Mr MacLachlan are likely to have died.
United in their grief, the families of the five men appealed once again to the kidnappers.
“We are all deeply upset and troubled to hear the reports that Alec and Alan have died in the hands of their captors, as well as Jason Swindlehurst and Jason Creswell,” they said.
“This is a terrible ordeal for us all. We ask those holding our men for compassion when so many are working hard for reconciliation in Iraq and we continue to pray for the safe return of our men.”
Release efforts will now focus on Peter Moore, the computer consultant whom the four men had been guarding. His condition is not known, though observers have speculated that the kidnappers may have kept him alive to use as a bargaining chip.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office declined to comment other than saying: “We continue to work intensively for the release of the hostages still held in this highly complex case and are extremely concerned for their safety.”
The likely death of two more of the men will increase pressure on the Government, which has been criticised heavily over its handling of the case — the longest-running kidnapping involving Britons since the Beirut hostage-takings in the 1980s.
Kim Howells, the former Foreign Office minister, has questioned publicly whether Britain was negotiating with the right people. He has also voiced frustration at how difficult it has been to get reliable information about the Baghdad Five.
About 40 gunmen in police uniform seized the group in daylight from a Finance Ministry building in Baghdad on May 29, 2007. They were taken to Sadr City, a sprawling Shia slum in east Baghdad, then the trail went cold.
The four security guards worked for GardaWorld, a Canadian security company, and Mr Moore was employed by Bearing Point, an American consultancy contracted to the US Agency for International Development, which provides services such as computer training to the fledgeling Iraqi Government.
Little is known about the gang, which calls itself Asaib al-Haq or the Band of the Righteous. It is believed to have links with Iran, though Tehran denies involvement in any militant activity in Iraq.
The kidnappers have repeatedly demanded the release of ten militants from US detention. Hopes for the hostages rose in June when Laith al-Khazali, one of the detainees with links to the group, was freed from Camp Cropper, a US detention centre next to Baghdad airport.
Days later, the bodies of Jason Swindlehurst, 38, from Skelmersdale, Lancashire, and Jason Creswell, 39, from Glasgow, were handed over to the British Embassy in Baghdad in what was widely perceived as a gesture of goodwill. The two men had been dead for a long time.
It remains to be seen when the bodies of the other two guards will be recovered. Much hinges on ongoing negotiations between elements of the kidnap group who are looking to be included in Iraq’s political process and also the fate of the remaining nine detainees, in particular Qais al-Khazali, the brother of Laith.
The US has promised to hand all detainees in its detention facilities to the Iraqi authorities for release or prosecution by the end of 2011 as part of a wider security agreement.
Commanders say that they hope to complete the process by early next year. Qais al-Khazali’s release, however, will be difficult for the US military because he is accused of being involved in an attack that killed five American soldiers in early 2007.
Source:The times
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