Reply #5: Firefight rages in Iraq near kidnap site [View All]

[leftchick]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061117/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_061117183254

BAGHDAD, Iraq - British ground forces and U.S. military helicopters fought with gunmen Friday in southern Iraq where four American security contractors and their Austrian co-worker were abducted in a convoy hijacking.

As the coalition forces searched the area around the border city of Safwan for the Crescent Security Group employees, confusion grew about what had happened to the captives.

A top Iraqi police official in Basra said none of the five kidnapped security company employees had been freed. He claimed the provincial governor, who announced the release of two of the hostages, had confused separate incidents in the region involving private security forces.

Basra police Maj. Gen. Ali al-Moussawi said the five kidnap victims — four Americans and an Austrian taken when their convoy was hijacked Thursday near the Kuwait border — still were in the hands of what he called a criminal gang. He said the kidnappers had demanded a ransom but would not elaborate.

Al-Moussawi said police believed the five were being held in the Safwan region along with trucks from the convoy.