BAGHDAD, Iraq - An Austrian was killed and an American was seriously wounded after their convoy of security contractors was hijacked in southern Iraq, an Iraqi police officer said Friday.
The body of the Austrian hostage was brought to a morgue in the city of Basra at 2:30 p.m. Friday, and the wounded American captive was taken there so he could be transferred to a British military hospital, the Basra officer said on condition of anonymity out of concern for his own security.
In Vienna, Astrid Harz, a spokeswoman for the Austrian foreign ministry, confirmed that a 25-year-old Austrian male from Upper Austria had been kidnapped when the Crescent Security Group convoy was hijacked in southern Iraq on Thursday. However, she could not confirm that he had been killed.
U.S. officials could not immediately be contacted about the report that the American had been wounded.
A total of five Crescent Security Group workers - an Austrian and four Americans - were taken hostage from the convoy, but nine other civilian employees from Asian countries such as India, Pakistan and the Philippines were released by the captors, the company said.
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