The U.S. military believes that five Britons, a computer expert and four bodyguards, kidnapped in Baghdad in May are still alive, a top U.S. general said on Tuesday.
"We track every day where we think they might be," said Lieutenant-General Raymond Odierno, the day-to-day commander of U.S. troops in Iraq. "We have reason to think that they are still alive," he said without elaborating.
Gunmen in police uniforms kidnapped the five on May 29 from a Finance Ministry building in the capital where the computer expert had been giving a lecture.
Odierno said rogue elements of fiery anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army militia were suspected of being behind the abductions.
Sadr last week ordered the suspension of all Mehdi Army operations for up to six months, in what was seen as a move to reestablish his control over the militia, which the U.S. military says has fragmented into splinter groups.
"If you really want to have a ceasefire ... where are these hostages? Tell us about these hostages, we think that's something we should talk to them about," Odierno said.
"We want them to identify these rogue elements."
U.S. troops have launched an intensive search to find the men, and U.S. military commander General David Petraeus said in June there had been several unsuccessful attempts to free them.
Odierno added that most of Sadr's followers were following the cleric's order not to engage in armed action.
"We think the majority are in fact paying attention to it. We have some rogue criminal elements that are not," he said.
The U.S. military has welcomed the move by Sadr and said it hoped security forces could now focus more on fighting Sunni Islamist al Qaeda.
But a senior Sadr aide said last week the order might only last a week if American and Iraqi forces did not stop detaining the cleric's supporters.
