Backgrounder: Kidnapping of foreigners in Iraq

At least 60 foreigners have been reportedly taken hostage in Iraq since April. The following is a list of foreign hostages known or reportedly to have been killed or still in captivity.

2004:

April 8 -- Canadian Mohammed Rifat is kidnapped and still missing.

April 12 -- Jordanian Wael Mamduh, is abducted in Basra. He is still missing.

May 11 -- A US civilian Nick Berg, missing since April 9, is beheaded. Militants with links to al Qaeda claim responsibility.

June 5 -- A Kuwaiti lorry driver Saad Saadoun taking supplies to US troops is captured by a militant group called the Waqas Islamic Brigade.

June 7 -- Two Turks, Tarkan Arikoglu and Adnan Azizoglu, are seized in Falluja. Azizoglu is freed the next day.

June 10 -- Lebanese Hussein Ali Alyan is kidnapped along with two Iraqi colleagues. Their bodies are found on a road between Falluja and Ramadi on June 12.

June 17 -- Kim Sun-il, a South Korean businessman, is kidnapped in Falluja. He is beheaded on June 22. His captors are militants from Jama'at al-Tawhid and Jihad.

June 28 -- Al Jazeera shows footage of what they claim was the killing of US soldier Keith Matthew Maupin. There is no confirmation that Maupin is the man killed.

July 7 -- A Filipino truck driver Angelo dela Cruz is captured by a group of gunmen, who threatened to kill him unless Manila pulls out its troops within 72 hours.

July 13 -- A group led by suspected al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi kills one of two Bulgarian hostages, Ivailo Kepov and Georgi Lazov. It threatens to kill the other within 24 hours unless US-led forces free prisoners.

-- A group of militants threatens to kill their Egyptian hostage Mohammed al-Gharabawi, if the Saudi firm he worked for does not leave Iraq within 72 hours.