No word on hostages as deadline passes

The ministry had received no information about the four Christian activists by late morning Saturday, a spokesman said. He asked that his name not be used due to the sensitivity of the situation.

The previously unknown Swords of Righteousness Brigade set Saturday as a deadline for killing Norman Kember, 74, of London, Tom Fox, 54, of Clear Brook, Va., and Canadians James Loney, 41, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32.

The group seized the four members of the Christian Peacemaker Teams two weeks ago. It first set a Thursday deadline but then extended it until Saturday, without setting a precise hour.

On Friday, Sunni Arab clerics used their main weekly religious service to plead for the hostages' lives because of their humanitarian work and condemnation of the US-led war in Iraq.

Meanwhile, an Egyptian kidnapped in Iraq was found dead yesterday near Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, said a source at the local Iraqi-US coordination centre.

Mohammed Ibrahim al-Hilali, 46, was snatched by gunmen under cover of darkness late Friday outside his home in Tikrit, north of Baghdad, a police source said.

His bullet-riddled body was discovered dumped on a roadside just north of the city, said the official at the coordination centre.