Two Macedonian contractors working for a cleaning company were kidnapped near the southern Iraqi city of Basra, British military said on Saturday.

The two contractors were kidnapped on Thursday while traveling with a Macedonian woman in their vehicle between two locations near Basra, some 550 km south of Baghdad, a military spokesman said.

The abductors took the two men, who worked for a company called Ecolog, and left their woman colleague on the road, where she was found later by a British patrol, he said.

More than two hundred foreigners have been kidnapped in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003. Most hostages were freed but dozens killed.

Source: Xinhua