Iraqi security forces seal town after hostages report

Iraqi security forces backed by US troops had the town of Madain surrounded after reports Sunni militants kidnapped as many as 100 Shiite residents, but there were growing indications the incident had been grossly exaggerated, perhaps an outgrowth of a tribal dispute or political manoeuvring.

The town of about 1,000 families, evenly divided between Shiites and Sunnis, sits about 13 miles south of the capital in what the US military has called the “Triangle of Death” because it has become a roiling stronghold of the militant insurgency.