Australia says it is preparing to send an emergency team of officials and police to Iraq to seek the release of a kidnapped Australian contractor.
But Australian Prime Minister John Howard ruled out any negotiations with the man's captors.
The hostage identified himself in a video released to journalists in Baghdad on Sunday as Douglas Wood, aged 63, living in California.
Mr Wood's American wife says she is sure the man shown is her husband.
Meanwhile, insurgents have kept up the spate of attacks that have left more than 100 people dead in the past week alone. On Monday:
a car bomb blew up in the centre of the capital, Baghdad, killing nine civilians and wounding another 10
a British soldier died after being injured in "hostile action", the UK defence ministry said, giving no further details
British embassy sources in Iraq said a fourth person had been arrested in connection with the murder of aid worker Margaret Hassan.