'No shots fired' in hostage freeing

US and British forces freed three Christian peace activists, British man Norman Kember and two Canadians, without firing a shot this morning, ending a four-month hostage drama in which an American among the group was shot to death and dumped on a Baghdad street earlier this month.

Major General Rick Lynch, the US military spokesman, said the hostages were being held by a “kidnapping cell”, and the operation to free the captives was based on information from a man who was captured by US forces last night.

Lynch said no kidnappers were present when the US-British force broke into a house in western Baghdad.

The captives, Kember, 74, and Canadians James Loney, 41, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32, had their hands tied, Lynch said, refusing to give any more details.