Australia 'moving heaven and earth' as terror clock ticks

11.00am UPDATET

CANBERRA - Australia was investigating a report that two of its nationals had been taken hostage in Iraq and would be killed within 24 hours unless Australia withdraws its troops, the government said on Tuesday.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said he believed all Australians in Iraq had been accounted for and companies working there were running checks on all their employees.

"At this stage we can find no evidence about any Australians missing or ... kidnapped, but nevertheless we have got to be cautious in what we say because further information could turn up as the day goes on," Downer told Australian television.

A group called the Iraqi Islamic Secret Army issued a type-written statement in the restive town of Samarra in southern Iraq on Monday, saying they had captured two Australian security workers along with two East Asians.

The four were snatched after rebels attacked a convoy of civilian cars on the highway between Baghdad and Mosul in the north, a copy of the statement obtained by Reuters said.

A spokesman for Downer's department earlier said it was "moving heaven and earth" to find out if Australia had become the latest nation to have hostages in Iraq.

Australia's Baghdad embassy could not be reached for comment.

The kidnap report comes ahead of a closely fought general election on October 9, where national security and Australia's involvement in the US-led war on Iraq are central issues.

Australia, a close US ally, was rocked by a suicide car bombing outside its embassy in Jakarta last Thursday that killed nine people and injured 182. The blast has been blamed on the al Qaeda-linked militant Muslim group Jemaah Islamiah.

In an internet statement at the weekend that could not immediately be authenticated, Jemaah Islamiah warned Australia of more attacks if it did not withdraw its 850 troops from in and around Iraq.

Prime Minister John Howard has said repeatedly Australia would never bow to threats by terrorists.

"We do not negotiate with terrorists," Howard said on Tuesday. "We all hope and pray the information is wrong."

Australia was one of the first countries to join the US-led war in Iraq but its forces have suffered no major casualties.

Conservative leader Howard and centre-left opposition Labour leader Mark Latham have repeatedly clashed over Australia's role in Iraq, most recently in a televised election debate on Sunday.

Latham, whose party is polling neck-and-neck with the government, wants to bring troops home by Christmas. Howard is adamant they will remain as long as they are needed.

Former US counter-terrorism chief Richard Clarke has said the rift between the two big parties could leave Australia open to attacks similar to the Madrid train bombings that killed 191 people three days before Spain's March 11 elections.

The outgoing pro-US government in Madrid was swept from power in the aftermath and the incoming Socialists quickly pulled Spanish troops out of Iraq.

Although Australia's military has not sustained any combat deaths in the Iraq war, freelance cameraman Paul Moran, 39, was killed by a car bomb in northern Iraq.

It suffered one military death in Afghanistan. Elite SAS soldier Andrew Russell, 33, was killed in February 2002 when his four-wheel drive vehicle hit an anti-tank mine.

- REUTERS


Herald Feature: Iraq