A foreign security guard who was among a group of five kidnapped yesterday after their truck convoy was hijacked has been found dead, an official in the office of Basra's governor said today.
An Iraqi police official in Basra in southern Iraq said earlier two other hostages had been freed in an operation by Iraqi police. The official in the governor's office said the one found dead was discovered in the same operation.
The nationality of the two freed and one dead hostage was not immediately clear. The five men seized yesterday were four Americans and an Austrian.
British troops cordoned off an area of the city of Basra today in what the Iraqi sources said was a raid based on suspicion the five missing men were held there.
Nine Iraqis were also abducted by the gunmen, but some of the Iraqis had already been released, it was reported.
A source in a militant group in Basra said it was holding the foreigners, but he gave no details.
The family of one American security contractor told a US newspaper that US officials said he had been captured after an exchange of fire in which there were no reports of casualties.
The convoy was heading for Nassiriya, 375 kilometres south of Baghdad, along on a road that is heavily guarded to protect US military convoys on what is the occupation force's main supply route into Iraq, an Iraqi security source said.