Australia was investigating a report that two of its nationals had been taken hostage in Iraq and would be killed within 24 hours unless Canberra withdraws its troops, a spokesman said today.
"We are aware of the report and our embassy in Baghdad is investigating," a spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Canberra said of a report initially issued by French news agency Agence France Presse.
A group called the Iraqi Islamic Secret Army issued a type-written statement in the restive town of Samarra in southern Iraq today, saying they had captured two Australian security workers along with two East Asians.
The quartet were snatched after rebels attacked a convoy of civilian cars on the highway between Baghdad and Mosul in the north, a copy of the statement obtained by Reuters said.
The Australian embassy in Baghdad could not be reached for comment, but a spokesman for Foreign Minister Alexander Downer told Australian Associated Press the government was "moving heaven and earth" to investigate if Australia had become the latest nation on the list of those to have hostages in Iraq.
The kidnap report comes ahead of a closely fought general election on Oct. 9, where national security and Australia's involvement in the US-led war on Iraq will be central issues.
Australia, a close US ally, was rocked by a suicide car bombing outside its embassy in Jakarta last Thursday that killed nine people and injured 182. The blast has been blamed on the al Qaeda-linked militant Muslim group Jemaah Islamiah.
In an Internet statement at the weekend that could not immediately be authenticated, Jemaah Islamiah warned Australia of more attacks if it did not withdraw its 850 troops from in and around Iraq.
Australia was one of the first nations to join the US-led war in Iraq but its forces have so far suffered no major casualties.
Conservative Prime Minister John Howard and centre-left opposition Labor leader Mark Latham have repeatedly clashed over Australia's role in Iraq, most recently in a televised election debate on Sunday.
Latham, whose party is polling neck-and-neck with the government, wants to bring troops home by Christmas. Howard is adamant they will remain as long as they are needed.