After 3 weeks, no word on abducted contractors
By Hannah Allam
McClatchy Newspapers
Paul Reuben, 39, a former Minnesota police officer, Jonathon Cote, 23, a New York-born veteran of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and their unidentified colleagues, two other Americans and an Austrian, were providing security for a supply convoy in southern Iraq on Nov. 16 when they were ambushed in the southern town of Safwan and taken away.
Iraqi Army Brig. Ali Ibrahim, part of a three-person committee that oversees security in the Basra province, said Iraqi investigators have interviewed witnesses who led them to believe the hostages were still alive. Ibrahim wouldn't elaborate on the tips.
A company statement says the convoy was ambushed by "suspected militia dressed in Iraqi Police uniforms." Two main Shiite militias - the Mahdi Army and the Badr Organization - are active in the south, but neither has claimed responsibility. Militia leaders frequently blame splinter groups for unauthorized abductions and attacks.
Iraqi police have hinted that criminal gangs are behind the attack, while some Iraqi media have linked U.S.-led raids in a Sunni enclave of the predominantly Shiite region to the kidnappings. Rumors abound that the contractors have been spirited to neighboring Iran or have been hidden in the slums of the Sadr City district of Baghdad.
The 43-vehicle Crescent Security convoy had just crossed the Kuwaiti border on an assignment for the Italian military when gunmen in several vehicles swarmed the group and made off with 14 hostages and 19 heavy trucks.
Two security contractors - a Briton and a Chilean - were left behind unharmed, the Crescent spokesman said. Nine Asian truck drivers among those seized also were released, leaving just the four Americans and the Austrian.
LinkHere
McClatchy Newspapers
Paul Reuben, 39, a former Minnesota police officer, Jonathon Cote, 23, a New York-born veteran of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and their unidentified colleagues, two other Americans and an Austrian, were providing security for a supply convoy in southern Iraq on Nov. 16 when they were ambushed in the southern town of Safwan and taken away.
Iraqi Army Brig. Ali Ibrahim, part of a three-person committee that oversees security in the Basra province, said Iraqi investigators have interviewed witnesses who led them to believe the hostages were still alive. Ibrahim wouldn't elaborate on the tips.
A company statement says the convoy was ambushed by "suspected militia dressed in Iraqi Police uniforms." Two main Shiite militias - the Mahdi Army and the Badr Organization - are active in the south, but neither has claimed responsibility. Militia leaders frequently blame splinter groups for unauthorized abductions and attacks.
Iraqi police have hinted that criminal gangs are behind the attack, while some Iraqi media have linked U.S.-led raids in a Sunni enclave of the predominantly Shiite region to the kidnappings. Rumors abound that the contractors have been spirited to neighboring Iran or have been hidden in the slums of the Sadr City district of Baghdad.
The 43-vehicle Crescent Security convoy had just crossed the Kuwaiti border on an assignment for the Italian military when gunmen in several vehicles swarmed the group and made off with 14 hostages and 19 heavy trucks.
Two security contractors - a Briton and a Chilean - were left behind unharmed, the Crescent spokesman said. Nine Asian truck drivers among those seized also were released, leaving just the four Americans and the Austrian.
LinkHere
posted by Kangaroo Brisbane Australia at 3:32 PM
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