FACTBOX-British hostages in Iraq
July 29 (Reuters) - The families of two of the three remaining British hostages held in Iraq since May 2007 said on Wednesday they were "deeply troubled and upset" to hear the men had been killed by their captors.
Here are some details about British hostages in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003:
2004:
* Gary Teeley, a British civilian contractor and consultant for a laundry firm, was freed on April 11, 2004. He had been held hostage in Nassiriya for around a week.
* Sunday Telegraph journalist James Brandon was held hostage for over 20 hours after being snatched from his hotel in Basra on Aug. 12. He said his captors had staged terrifying mock executions, putting unloaded guns to his blindfolded head and pulling the trigger.
-- Iraq's radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr ordered the Briton's release. He was handed over to Sadr's Basra office and then to British military police. * Briton Kenneth Bigley and Americans Jack Hensley and Eugene Armstrong, all civil engineers working on reconstruction projects for GSCS, a United Arab Emirates-based firm that won building contracts in Iraq, were kidnapped on Sept. 16. Captors released videos of the two Americans being beheaded about a week later, followed by a series of videos showing Bigley begging for his life and calling for British troops to withdraw. Bigley was murdered on Oct. 7, 2004.
* British-Iraqi aid worker Margaret Hassan of CARE international was kidnapped on Oct. 19 and is believed to have been murdered about four weeks later, after her captors released a video of her begging for her life. Her kidnapping sparked demonstrations by supporters in Iraq who called for her release. In November, the British embassy in Baghdad confirmed that a video tape had surfaced appearing to show the killing and said it was probably genuine.
2005:
* Christian peace activists Norman Kember of Britain, Tom Fox of the United States and James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden of Canada were captured on Nov. 26. Fox was found dead on March 9, 2006. The others were rescued by UK-led special forces on March 23, 2006.
* Freelance reporter Phil Sands was held for five days by gunmen who abducted him on Dec. 26. He was being held on a farm outside Baghdad when surprised U.S. troops stumbled upon him.
-- His kidnapping was not reported until Jan. 2006. He was on his way to an interview in Baghdad when about 10 men in ski masks and carrying AK-47 rifles kidnapped him.
2007:
* Five Britons -- Computer instructor Peter Moore and his four bodyguards -- were seized by a Shi'ite militant group from inside an Iraqi Finance Ministry building in a raid in Baghdad on May 29.
-- Several videos of them in captivity have emerged. However the bodies of two of the five, Jason Creswell and Jason Swindlehurst, were handed over by their captors in June 2009 but there was no news then of the fate of the remaining three.
-- The families of two of the three remaining British hostages said on July 29, 2009 they had heard the men had been killed by their captors. BBC radio reported on the same day that British officials had told the hostages' families it was very likely the two -- whom it named as Alan McMenemy from Scotland and Alec Maclachlan from Wales -- were dead.
2008:
* Richard Butler, a British journalist working for CBS News programme "60 Minutes," was rescued on April 14, 2008 by the Iraqi Army after being kidnapped in Basra together with his translator on Feb 10. They were kidnapped by gunmen who raided the Sultan Palace Hotel. His translator was freed earlier.
Here are some details about British hostages in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003:
2004:
* Gary Teeley, a British civilian contractor and consultant for a laundry firm, was freed on April 11, 2004. He had been held hostage in Nassiriya for around a week.
* Sunday Telegraph journalist James Brandon was held hostage for over 20 hours after being snatched from his hotel in Basra on Aug. 12. He said his captors had staged terrifying mock executions, putting unloaded guns to his blindfolded head and pulling the trigger.
-- Iraq's radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr ordered the Briton's release. He was handed over to Sadr's Basra office and then to British military police. * Briton Kenneth Bigley and Americans Jack Hensley and Eugene Armstrong, all civil engineers working on reconstruction projects for GSCS, a United Arab Emirates-based firm that won building contracts in Iraq, were kidnapped on Sept. 16. Captors released videos of the two Americans being beheaded about a week later, followed by a series of videos showing Bigley begging for his life and calling for British troops to withdraw. Bigley was murdered on Oct. 7, 2004.
* British-Iraqi aid worker Margaret Hassan of CARE international was kidnapped on Oct. 19 and is believed to have been murdered about four weeks later, after her captors released a video of her begging for her life. Her kidnapping sparked demonstrations by supporters in Iraq who called for her release. In November, the British embassy in Baghdad confirmed that a video tape had surfaced appearing to show the killing and said it was probably genuine.
2005:
* Christian peace activists Norman Kember of Britain, Tom Fox of the United States and James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden of Canada were captured on Nov. 26. Fox was found dead on March 9, 2006. The others were rescued by UK-led special forces on March 23, 2006.
* Freelance reporter Phil Sands was held for five days by gunmen who abducted him on Dec. 26. He was being held on a farm outside Baghdad when surprised U.S. troops stumbled upon him.
-- His kidnapping was not reported until Jan. 2006. He was on his way to an interview in Baghdad when about 10 men in ski masks and carrying AK-47 rifles kidnapped him.
2007:
* Five Britons -- Computer instructor Peter Moore and his four bodyguards -- were seized by a Shi'ite militant group from inside an Iraqi Finance Ministry building in a raid in Baghdad on May 29.
-- Several videos of them in captivity have emerged. However the bodies of two of the five, Jason Creswell and Jason Swindlehurst, were handed over by their captors in June 2009 but there was no news then of the fate of the remaining three.
-- The families of two of the three remaining British hostages said on July 29, 2009 they had heard the men had been killed by their captors. BBC radio reported on the same day that British officials had told the hostages' families it was very likely the two -- whom it named as Alan McMenemy from Scotland and Alec Maclachlan from Wales -- were dead.
2008:
* Richard Butler, a British journalist working for CBS News programme "60 Minutes," was rescued on April 14, 2008 by the Iraqi Army after being kidnapped in Basra together with his translator on Feb 10. They were kidnapped by gunmen who raided the Sultan Palace Hotel. His translator was freed earlier.
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