BAGHDAD, Aug 1: Kenya said on Sunday kidnappers in Iraq had released seven truck drivers, including three Kenyans, but the truckers' company and a top Iraqi negotiator said the men remained captive.

"The (Kenyan Foreign Ministry) ... has succeeded in the release of the three Kenyans," Foreign Minister Chirau Ali Mwak were told a news conference in Nairobi. He said the other hostages - three Indians and an Egyptian - had also been freed, and that all seven were at the Egyptian embassy in Baghdad. But the Kuwaiti firm which employs the seven truckers said they were still being held hostage.

"They have not been released ... We are still negotiating," said Rana Abu Zaneih, a spokeswoman for the Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport Company. Hisham al-Dulaymi, chief Iraqi negotiator in the hostage standoff, said no deal had been struck with the kidnappers. -Reuters