Nine Hostages Said Freed in Iraq, Japanese Still Held 5 minutes ago Add World - Reuters to My Yahoo! http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040411/wl_nm/iraq_hostages_ dc&cid=574&ncid=1478 BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A British contractor was freed by Iraqi kidnappers, officials said on Sunday, and an Iraqi group said it had released eight other foreign hostages, but the fate of three Japanese and an American captive remained unclear. Iraq (news - web sites) has seen a wave of hostage-taking over the last week as violent confrontations with Sunni and Shi'ite rebels ignited across the country ahead of a June 30 deadline for the U.S.-led administration to hand power to an interim Iraqi government. In a videotape aired by Arabic television station Al Jazeera on Sunday, a masked man announced the release of the eight foreign men described as truck drivers who had supplied "the forces of the enemy." "We have released them in response to a call from the Muslim Clerics Association. ..after we were sure that they will not deal with the occupation forces again," the man said. Looking frightened, the men -- three from Pakistan, two Turks, an Indian, a Nepali and a Filipino -- read out their names, nationalities and ages on camera while their armed captors, faces masked, stood behind them.