Government names two UK hostages killed in Iraq

By Peter Griffiths

LONDON (Reuters) - The dead bodies of two Britons taken hostage in Iraq in 2007 and handed to UK officials in Baghdad late on Friday have been provisionally identified, the British government said on Sunday.

The men were among five Britons seized by an armed Shi'ite militant group from inside a finance ministry building in a raid in the Iraqi capital.

The Foreign Office said in a statement the dead men were "highly likely" to be Jason Creswell, originally from Glasgow in Scotland, and Jason Swindlehurst, from northwest England.

"Officials are in close contact with all the families," it said. "We continue to do everything we can towards the safe release of the other hostages."

Foreign Secretary David Miliband said on Saturday the three other hostages were in "grave danger" after the Iraqi authorities passed the two men's remains to the British.

No details about where, when or how they died have been made public. Unconfirmed media reports last year said one of the hostages had killed himself.

Peter Moore, a computer instructor, was kidnapped along with four of his bodyguards, working for Canadian security firm GardaWorld.

"This development is deeply shocking for the company and particularly for the families and friends of the victims," the company said in a statement.