sourceU.S. and British forces launch an intense manhunt for Western security men seized at a checkpoint.
A massive search and rescue operation is under way in southern Iraq for five Western security contractors taken hostage on Thursday. Four Americans and an Austrian were taken on Thursday when a convoy they were guarding was hijacked. Several Iraqis and other nationals who were also kidnapped during the hijack were released within a few hours. AP reports that British ground troops and U.S. helicopters fought gunmen in an area near where the kidnappings occurred, and that the Austrian hostage was found dead and that one of the Americans was gravely wounded.
Iraqi government sources blame Shiite militias for the snatch, which took place around 20 miles south of Basra.
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