UK Hostages 'Believed Dead'

Two British hostages in Iraq are believed to be dead.
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Security guards Alan McMenemy, from Glasgow, and Alec Maclachlan, from south Wales, were kidnapped in 2007 along with three other Britons.
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The bodies of two of the other men were found last month with gunshot wounds.
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The condition of the fifth man, Peter Moore, is not known. The Foreign Office says all efforts are being made to secure the hostages' release.

Mr Moore had been working for American management consultancy Bearingpoint in Iraq, while the other men were security contractors employed to guard him.

The group were captured at Baghdad's Ministry of Finance in May 2007 by about 40 men disguised as Iraqi policemen.

They are understood to belong to an obscure militia known as Islamic Shiite Resistance in Iraq.

They are security guards Alan McMenemy and Alec Maclachlan.

The families of the men have been informed.



The pair were captured in Baghdad in 2007 along with fellow security guards Jason Swindlehurst and Jason Creswell and the man they were guarding, IT consultant Peter Moore.

The bodies of Mr Swindlehurst and Mr Creswell were returned to the British embassy in the Iraqi capital last month.

Frank Gardner said the Foreign Office last week told the families of Mr McMenemy and Mr Maclachlan that the men had most likely died while in captivity.

British officials are now understood to be focusing on IT consultant Mr Moore.

The last proof of life sent by his kidnappers was a video handed over in March, but it is not known when the film was made or if he is still alive today.

The Foreign Office refused to comment on the specifics of the case, saying it did not discuss operational details.

However, a spokeswoman said: "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 bodies of Mr Swindlehurst, from Skelmersdale, Lancashire, and Mr Creswell, from Glasgow, were flown back to the UK last month.

News of their deaths came shortly after speculation that a deal to free all five men alive could be close.

Security experts understood there had been positive diplomatic moves behind the scenes, including the release of a prisoner whose freedom was being demanded by the hostage-takers

Little is known about the captives because of a media blackout during a large period of their captivity.

The blackout originally came on the instruction of the hostage-takers who said they did not want publicity.

This has been Britain's longest running hostage crisis for nearly 20 years.