An Egyptian truck driver, kidnapped in Iraq almost two weeks ago, has been freed, the pan-Arab television station Al-Jazeera reported tonight.

The Iraqi kidnappers of an Egyptian truck driver said they would kill the hostage unless his Saudi employers leave the country in 48 hours, Arab television station Al-Jazeera said.

Gunmen assassinated a provincial governor yesterday, hours after a suicide attacker detonated a massive car bomb that killed at least 10 and wounded 40, in the worst attack in Baghdad since the United States handed power to an Iraqi interim government on June 28.