UK hostages 'may still be alive'

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The plea came as Iraqi's security chief revealed he believes the hostages are still alive.

The Right Reverend Michael Lewis called on their abductors to show mercy and to release them for the sake of their families.

The bishop, whose diocese includes Baghdad, was speaking during his first visit to the Iraqi capital, where he met senior religious and political figures including Ayatollah Hussain Sadr, cousin of the radical Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and national security adviser, Mowaffak al-Rubai'e.

He said: "It can be an appeal that remembers the families of the five who are held and I make that appeal.

"I ask them to consider messages that are being passed to them from many sources asking for mercy and compassion."

Mr al-Rubai'e later told the BBC the Iraqi authorities had "strong" intelligence suggesting the captives were still alive.

He said: "We have a very good, strong intelligence telling us they are alive and we roughly know the area where they are.

"But we don't want to be aggressive in our approach, not to risk their lives."

The hostages - an IT consultant and four security guards - were captured by gunmen at the Iraqi Ministry of Finance on May 29 last year. One of them is Peter Moore, from Lincoln, who was working in Iraq for BearingPoint, an American management consultancy.