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| Man linked to UK hostages freed | Man linked to UK hostages freed |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Iraqi officials have released a Shia militant leader from the group which kidnapped five Britons in Baghdad in 2007, the Iraqi interior ministry says. | Iraqi officials have released a Shia militant leader from the group which kidnapped five Britons in Baghdad in 2007, the Iraqi interior ministry says. |
| Qais al-Khazaali is believed to be the leader of the Asaib al-Haq group said to be behind the abduction of Peter Moore and his four bodyguards. | Qais al-Khazaali is believed to be the leader of the Asaib al-Haq group said to be behind the abduction of Peter Moore and his four bodyguards. |
| Mr Moore was freed from captivity last week. The bodies of three of his guards were returned last year. | Mr Moore was freed from captivity last week. The bodies of three of his guards were returned last year. |
| Khazaali's release raises hopes that the last hostage would be handed over. | Khazaali's release raises hopes that the last hostage would be handed over. |
| That hostage, Alan McMenemy, 34, from Glasgow, is believed to have been killed. | |
| Khazaali's release was always top of Asaib al-Haq's demands, the BBC's security correspondent Frank Gardner says. | |
| Militants wanted a straight prisoner swap, but the US military held onto him because he was suspected of involvement in a raid that killed five US servicemen in 2007, our correspondent adds. | |
| Several militants had already been handed to the Iraqi government and some had since been freed under the reconciliation process. | |
| Miliband's plea | |
| The five Britons were captured at the Iraqi Ministry of Finance by about 40 men disguised as Iraqi policemen in May 2007. | |
| Peter Moore's return to the UK had been veiled in secrecy | |
| Mr Moore, aged 36, had been working for US management consultancy Bearingpoint in Iraq. The other men were security contractors employed to guard him. | |
| Mr Moore was in good health after his release last week, British officials have said. | |
| The bodies of Jason Swindlehurst, from Skelmersdale, Lancashire, and Jason Creswell, of Glasgow, were returned to the UK in June 2009, followed by that of fellow bodyguard Alec MacLachlan, of Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, in September. | |
| The fourth guard, Alan McMenemy from Glasgow, is also thought to have been killed. Foreign Secretary David Miliband has called for the release of his body. |