Macedonian officials confirmed on Saturday Two Macedonian contractors working for a German cleaning company had been kidnapped near the southern Iraqi city of Basra, said reports from the Macedonian capital Skopje.

"There was a ransom demand. There are negotiations under way between the company and the group, " a Macedonian official said at a news briefing.

A spokesman for the British military said earlier that the two men were kidnapped on Thursday while traveling with a German woman in their vehicle between two locations near Basra, some 550 km south of Baghdad.

The abductors took the 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 200 foreigners have been kidnapped in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003. Most hostages were freed but dozens killed.

Source: Xinhua