Egyptian Hostages Freed As Two British Soldiers Killed In Iraq

BAGHDAD (AFP) - A pair of Egyptian hostages were freed as two British soldiers were killed in a rare flare-up of violence in southern Iraq and US warplanes again pounded the rebel-held town of Fallujah.
Jordan`s King Abdullah II, a key Western ally in the region, warned that the persistent violence meant promised nationwide elections probably could not be organized in January.
The two Egyptians were among eight employees of Egyptian telecom firm Orascom kidnapped in Iraq last week, six of them in the Syrian border town of Al-Qaim and two of them in the capital.
"Two hostages... were freed Monday night from Al-Qaim and another two are expected to be today," said an Orascom spokesman.
The Egyptian government was only immediately able to confirm the release of one of the men.
Two Iraqis among the Orascom employees abducted in Al-Qaim are already believed to have been freed, although this has not been confirmed.
No groups has publicly claimed the kidnappings of the Egyptians, but their seizure amid a spate of hostage-takings that have seen nearly 150 foreigners abducted.
Two Italian aid workers, two French journalists and a British engineer remain in captivity and there was no word of their fate on Tuesday.
Two US contractors, kidnapped along with Briton Kenneth Bigley, were beheaded last week by their captors from the Unity and Holy War group of alleged Al-Qaeda operative Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi.
Bigley`s brother Paul said Monday that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat had intervened on behalf of the captive engineer.
British Muslim leaders wrapped up a two-day mercy mission to Iraq Monday to try to save the 62-year-old, and an Italian Muslim leader was expected here to press for the release of the two women aid workers.
The Italian daily Corriere della Sera reported that electronic eavesdropping by US intelligence had intercepted a voice that might be one of two 29-year-olds.
The insurgent enclave of Fallujah, where many of the foreign hostages are believed to have been held, was again pounded by US aircraft overnight.
"Three people were killed and six others wounded," said Dr Rafaa Hiad at the town`s main hospital.
US army spokesman Jay Antonelli denied the strike had caused any casualties, although the US-led coalition has no forces in the town since abandoning a month-long siege this spring.
He said the raid again targeted suspected hideouts of militants loyal to US archfoe Zarqawi, who is responsible for scores of deadly anti-coalition attacks and kidnappings.
In the capital, explosions rocked the Sunni Haifa street area, while US helicopter gunships struck the Shiite militia stronghold of Sadr City, one of Baghdad`s mostly densely populated neighbourhoods.
In southern Iraq, two British soldiers were killed in a rare ambush of a military convoy, that overshadowed the annual conference of Prime Minister Tony Blair`s ruling Labour Party.
The south is overwhelming Shiite, but it was not imediately clear if the attackers were Sunni insurgents or Shiite militiamen.
They ambushed a convoy of three British army vehicles southwest of the main southern city of Basra, damaging one armoured Land Rover, a defence ministry spokesman said in London.
"Whilst they were trying to get the men out of the Land Rover, the damaged one, they came under further heavy fire, and unfortunately neither of the two casualties survived," the spokesman said.
Hospital officials in Basra said at least two Iraqi bystanders were also injured.
The renewed fighting underscored the concerns raised by Jordan`s King Abdullah about the possibility of holding elections in January as planned.
The king, who delayed his own parliamentary elections for two years, told the Paris daily Le Figaro Tuesday: "It appears to me impossible to organise indisputable elections in the chaos currently reigning in Iraq."
His remarks followed warnings from UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and comments by US Secretary of State Colin Powell that the insurgency was growing more dangerous as the election target date nears.
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld raised the possibility last week that the polls might go ahead in most of Iraq, leaving out the regions most touched by the violence.
But critics argue that polls in which some areas are disenfranchised would not be the sort of "indisputable elections" talked about by the Jordanian king.