NEW DELHI, Aug 1 (AFP) - India said Sunday it had received no confirmation that seven hostages had been freed by their Iraqi militant captors despite Kenya's claims to the contrary.
"I wish to convey that as of now we have no confirmation of their release," junior foreign minister E. Ahamed told reporters in the Indian capital after a meeting of the crisis management group set up to monitor the situation.
"Neither our embassy in Iraq nor in Kuwait have any (such) information."
India made the announcement after Kenyan Foreign Minister Chirau Ali Mwakwere said the seven -- three Indians, three Kenyans and an Egyptian -- had been freed and were in safe custody in the Egyptian embassy in Iraq.
"I am pleased to announce that the three Kenyans, together with four others from other countries... have this afternoon been released," Mwakwere told a press conference in Nairobi.
But a self-styled Iraqi tribal mediator and diplomatic sources in Baghdad also said they could not confirm reports the truckers had been released.
"I know nothing about it. This is all news to me," go-between Sheikh Hisham al-Dulaimi told AFP.
India's Ahamed said New Delhi had been informed by its embassy in Baghdad and Kuwait that "negotiations are progressing well" to free the seven truck drivers.
"The government is hopeful the deadline (set by the captors to start killing them) will be extended and the hostages will be freed."
A spokesman for the Kuwait and Gulf Link Co. (KGL) for which the truckers work also told AFP in Kuwait City he could not confirm their release.
The hostages were snatched July 21 by the previously unknown 'Islamic Secret Army - Holders of the Black Banners' group. The group had threatened to start killing them Friday but then pushed back the deadline by 24 hours to Saturday.
The Indian government said earlier Sunday it had been told the abductors had extended their deadline again to start killing the captives by another 24 hours.
It did not specify the new deadline, but junior foreign minister Ahamed told reporters: "I think it is 8:30 pm (1500 GMT Sunday)."