Forces free four hostages in Iraq

FOUR hostages, three Italian and one Polish, held by insurgents in Iraq since early April were freed by coalition forces yesterday.

"Regarding the freeing of the hostages in Iraq, there were no negotiations and it was an action without bloodshed," Italy's Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said in Rome.

Meanwhile, the head of the Polish troops in Iraq, Mieczyslaw Bieniek, said "special units" of the US-led coalition freed Polish national Jerzy Kos, along with the three Italians.