DHAKA, Dec 10: Two truck drivers from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka kidnapped in Iraq by the same militant group that claims to be holding two French journalists have been released by their captors, officials said here on Friday.

Arrangements were being made for the return home of Abul Kashem, 42, and his Sri Lankan colleague, Dinesh Dharmendran Rayaratnam, 36, Bangladesh's State Minister for Overseas Employment Mohammad Quamrul Islam said.

Sri Lanka's foreign ministry also confirmed its national had been freed. The two men were captured en route to a US base in October. Al Jazeera television showed footage of them in captivity shortly after their abduction and said they were being held by the Islamic Army in Iraq (IAI).

Abul Kashem's family, at his home village of Jeetpur in Bangladesh's south-eastern Feni district, were overjoyed at the news of his release. "I feel so happy and grateful that my husband has come back from the door of death," his wife, Naznin Akhter, said.

"Since he was kidnapped we have been in mental torment. We are overjoyed that he has been released," added Kashem's brother, Abu Tayeeb. The IAI is still believed to be holding two French journalists who were abducted south of Baghdad on Aug 20 with their Syrian driver. The driver was found alive and well in a house in Fallujah last month during the US-led assault on the city.

Truckers have been a favourite target of hostage-takers in Iraq, with many taken hostage over the past few months to try to force their companies out of the country. In some cases, ransoms have been paid to win their release.

The Iraqi daily Al Mada said on Tuesday that the men had been released the day before. It said they had been told by their kidnappers on Sunday that they would be released the next day if they promised not to work for their Kuwaiti company or for the Americans. -AFP