A group that kidnapped five British men in Baghdad nearly two years ago claims a deal is in place to release the hostages in exchange for prisoners being held by US forces in Iraq. "There is an agreement between Britain and the US and our group," Abu Ali,a leader of the Shiite Iraqi movement claiming to hold the hostages said in an interview with Arabic online newspaper Elaph published on Thursday. "One of the hostages will be released very soon after the British side carries out its promise to us to convince the American side to release 10 of our leaders," he said. The interview emerged after a video of one of the hostages,IT consultant Peter Moore,was released last to the British embassy in Baghdad by the kidnappers,a group calling itself the Leagues of the Righteous. "If things go well,another hostage will be released very soon as well,in exchange for a group of Sadrist detainees," Abu Ali said in a reference to supporters of the anti-US Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Among the men the group wants released from US custody in Iraq are Laith al-Khazaali,also known as Abu Sajjad,Hassan Salem,Rahi Al-Shamoosi and Saad Sewar. The British hostages - Moore and his four bodyguards - were seized by 40 gunmen wearing police uniforms at the Iraqi finance ministry in Baghdad in May 2007.
