DEHLAN, July 31: Families of three Indian hostages in Iraq braced on Saturday as a new execution deadline passed, while India announced it had sent a special envoy to negotiate with the guerillas threatening to kill the captive truckers one by one.

There were unconfirmed reports that the captors had extended the 1500 gmt Saturday deadline indefinitely. With the strain of the ordeal clearly showing, family members and their close friends huddled in their homes while other residents of their villages flocked to Hindu or Sikh temples to pray.

India's Junior Foreign Minister E. Ahamed told reporters in New Delhi that Talmiz Ahmad, India's ambassador in Muscat, had been sent to Baghdad to negotiate the release of the hostages, who have been held by Iraqi guerillas since July 21 along with three Kenyans and an Egyptian.

Ahmad is an Arabic speaker and has served in the Gulf region, the minister said. He will be assisted by an Arabic interpreter attached to India's foreign ministry, Zikrur Rahman.

"We understand that Ambassador Ahmad is already on his way to Baghdad and expected to reach Baghdad either this evening or at latest by tomorrow morning," the minister said.

Iraqi mediator Sheikh Dulaymi, he added, has been holding meetings with representatives of the Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport Company, for which the kidnapped truckers work.

The kidnappers, who call themselves the Holders of the Black Banners, are demanding the withdrawal of the company from Iraq and the payment of compensation to victims of fighting in the flashpoint city of Fallujah, west of Baghdad.

They had earlier set a deadline of Friday at 1500 GMT for their demands to be met but later announced a 24-hour extension.

They warned if their demands were not met they would kill one hostage every 72 hours.

The Indians being held hostage are Antaryami, who uses only one name, Tilak Raj and Sukhdev Singh.

Antaryami and Tilak Raj hail from the northern state of Himachal Pradesh, while Sukhdev Singh comes from neighbouring Punjab province.

Frustrated residents in Dehlan, 430kms north of New Delhi, angry at what they say is government inaction over the crisis, set up roadblocks on main roads for the second day running on Saturday.

Authorities diverted buses and vehicles along a new route to prevent traffic jams but villagers refused to end their protest.

"Roadblocks and protests will continue until the hostages are released," said an angry villager manning a roadblock.

Protestors on Friday blocked roads with burnt tyres, parked vehicles and tree branches while others sat on railway tracks, disrupting train services.

Schools, shops and commercial establishments were closed as thousands shouted anti-government slogans.

Antaryami's distraught father, Ram Murthi, said he was "hoping against hope" that his son would come back home unharmed while the village remained tense.

"I can't stop the people of my town and state from staging protests. I can only stop my family," he said.

In hostage Singh's village of Makraun Kalan, a relative Saturday appealed to the abductors to release the truckers.

"What good will it do if you keep poor people hostage? If they hold a minister's son they will get something. We are poor people. What will the kidnappers get by holding a poor person?" he asked.

Singh's father Sher Singh said the family was now looking for "divine intervention."

"We have lost all hope. Only God can save them now," he said in a choked voice, the Press Trust of India news agency said.

In a hospital in Una, hostage Tilak Raj's wife Promilla Devi remained under sedation, oblivious to the rapidly-changing developments, reports said. -AFP