Confusion over seven hostages in Iraq as Kenya reports release

[Barrett808]

NAIROBI (AFP) - Kenya said that seven truck drivers, including three Kenyans, held in Iraq had been released and were at the Egyptian embassy, but the statement was immediately denied by an Egyptian official and by the company that employs them.

"I am pleased to announce that the three Kenyans, together with four others from other countries, have this afternoon been released," Kenyan Foreign Minister Chirau Ali Mwakwere told a press conference in Nairobi.

"They are right now in Baghdad in the safe custody of the Egyptian embassy and they will in the next few hours be taken to Kuwait, where they will be received by our ambassador to Saudi Arabia and his team that is already there," he added.

"They are in very good health," Mwakwere added.

"This is a great achievement for the country... This is diplomacy at its best," he said, adding: "We worked day and night to ensure that we succeeded eventually in bringing back home our brothers, who were held in Iraq."

But the Kuwaiti company that employs the truck drivers said the men had not been released yet.

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