Two German security officials who disappeared after coming under attack while travelling from Jordan to Baghdad last week have probably been killed, according to a spokeswoman in the German Foreign Ministry.
The two had been on their way to the German embassy in Baghdad when their convoy was attacked on Wednesday. The incident was not made public until Saturday.
"Based on the information we have they were most probably killed," the spokeswoman said on Sunday. "But we still have no final confirmation of that."
The Sunday Telegraph published a front page photograph of a bloodied body Iraqi guerrillas said was that of one of the two Germans. A correspondent for the daily said guerrillas had shown him the bodies of the two Germans.
The Foreign Ministry said the two men had gone missing near the Sunni town of Falluja. Germany's ARD television said their car of the two guards had been found abandoned and badly damaged after a shootout.
The security officials were taking part in a routine exchange of staff at the embassy. German media reported the two were members of Germany's elite anti-terror GSG-9 security force, but government officials would not confirm that.
Several foreigners have been taken hostage on the dangerous route between Baghdad and Amman which passes through the Falluja area where a Sunni insurgency against U.S. forces intensified this week.