Four Italians reported missing in Iraq

Four Italian private security guards working for a US company are missing in Iraq, state TV reported today.

The Italians disappeared in Fallujah on Friday, said RAI TV. They worked for the US company DTS Security, the report said. There was no immediate confirmation.

It was not clear if the security guards were the same four people who had been reported kidnapped last week.

The Reuters news agency said on Friday that four Italians were held at a mosque in the Baghdad suburb of Abu Ghraib.

A photographer with the agency said that he saw two of the supposed Italian hostages from a distance at the mosque.

The Defence Ministry in Rome said that all its troops were accounted for and the Foreign Ministry said that none of the Italians registered on its official lists was reported missing.