Five abducted Britons believed to be alive: US general

BAGHDAD, Sept 4, 2007 (AFP) - Five Britons kidnapped in Baghdad in May are believed to be alive, a senior US military commander said Tuesday.
"We have reason to think that they are still alive," Lieutenant General Ray Odierno said on Tuesday.
Odierno, the number two commander of US-led forces in Iraq, said the military was daily tracking the fate of the British management consultant and his four bodyguards who were abducted during a visit to an Iraqi finance ministry office on May 29.
In June, General David Petraeus, the top commander of US forces in Iraq, said in an interview with British newspaper The Times that the kidnapping was funded, trained and armed by Iran.
Petraeus identified the kidnappers as a secret cell of the Mahdi Army, the militia loyal to radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
Last Wednesday, Sadr ordered the suspension of all armed activities of the Mahdi Army after allegations its fighters were involved in clashes with policemen during a Shiite prilgrimage in the shrine city of Karbala.
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09/04/2007 13:34 GMT