Iraqis release last of Lebanese hostages

BAGHDAD -- Iraqi kidnappers yesterday released the last of five Lebanese hostages taken captive in Iraq, a Foreign Ministry official said.

George Frendo, a construction worker, was the third Lebanese hostage freed by kidnappers this week.

''He is in good health," said Butros Asaker, who heads the political department in the Lebanese Foreign Ministry.

Frendo was released yesterday afternoon in Baghdad. Asaker would not say whether a ransom was paid.

''The important thing is that he is free," he said.

Another Lebanese hostage, Jamil Deeb, was freed late Thursday. He and Frendo were employees of the Sweidan construction company. It was not clear where the company is based. Lebanese officials did not say whether a ransom had been paid for Deeb.

On Wednesday, kidnappers released Habib Samour, who was abducted upon his arrival in Baghdad on May 17.

Another Lebanese hostage, Hussein Alyan, was shot dead and his body dumped beside a road. A fifth, Roger Haddad, was released after his family paid a ransom.

In recent months, hundreds of Lebanese, mainly construction workers and industrialists, have gone to Iraq to explore opportunities in the massive postwar reconstruction effort.

In a separate development, Britain is investigating reports that its soldiers mutilated the bodies of Iraqi civilians after a vicious gun battle last month, the Defense Ministry said. A ministry spokeswoman said Britain ''categorically denied" British soldiers had abused the bodies after the firefight near the southern Iraqi town of Majar-al-Kabir on May 14.