Three Gandhian peace activists, who were kidnapped in Iraq last November were released early on Thursday morning in a combined operation moved by British, Canadian, US, and Iraqi forces.

The freed men were Canadians Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32, and James Loney, 41, and Briton Norman Kember, 74. They were members of the Toronto and Chicago-based Christian Peacemakers Teams.

There was a fourth man, US citizen Tom Fox, 54, was murdered by the kidnappers who claimed to belong to a previously unknown group called the ‘Swords of Truth Brigades’, as per Michael Jansen DH News Service Nicosia, as appeared in Deccan Herald. His body was found in the diplomatic quarter of Baghdad on March 9.

As per the press report, both British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and the Peacemakers Teams’ spokesman Douglas Pritchard said that no shots were fired during the rescue operation, which Straw said had been planned over many weeks.

Before beginning their mission in Baghdad, the four Peacemakers signed a statement saying that if they were taken hostage, they did not want to be freed through the use of force.

British special forces and the Canadian Royal Mounted Police were involved in the operation, although the operation took place near the town of Mishahda, 30 kilometres north of Baghdad, in an area under the authority of the US military.

Full Story: http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/mar242006/foreign1720262006323.asp