BAGHDAD, April 15: Three Japanese hostages were released in Iraq on Thursday, but Italy mourned the execution of one of its abducted citizens as the kidnapping campaign against foreigners turned deadly.

The Al Jazeera television network showed aid workers Noriaki Imai, 18, and Nahoko Takato, 34, as well as photojournalist Soichiro Koriyama, 32, chatting and sharing juice with Iraqis who had helped secure their release.

"The three have been released," Sheikh Abdul Salam Kubaissi said, confirming that they were at the headquarters of the Committee of Muslim Scholars at the Umm al Qura mosque, in Baghdad.

"They are in very good health," he said, adding that they had been handed over to the Japanese embassy, while other Japanese officials in Amman said the trio would be flown home through Dubai. Italian security guard Fabrizio Quattrocchi, 35, was not so lucky, becoming the first hostage to be murdered since the wave of abductions began last week.

He was shot at point-blank range on Wednesday in an execution-style murder that was filmed and sent to the Al Jazeera. The murder bore chilling similarities to the video-taped execution of kidnapped Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in Pakistan in 2002, which has been attributed to extremists linked to Al Qaeda.

US military officials said for the first time that Al Qaeda might be one of many groups involved in the spate of kidnappings in Iraq. A senior official said the kidnappings were probably the work of former Iraqi security agents and an assortment of extremist groups, including Al Qaeda.

Jordanian Abu Mussab al Zarqawi, the alleged mastermind of Al Qaeda operations in Iraq, and the Ansar al Islam group were likely suspects, he said. "There may be numerous marriages of convenience going on here," he said. -AFP