Family messages to Brit hostages

LONDON, England (CNN) -- The friends and families of five Britons kidnapped in Iraq have issued a message, telling their loved ones they are doing all they can to free them and urging the captors to let the men go.

The British Foreign Office Wednesday posted the message on its Web site. The five -- four security guards and a computer expert -- were kidnapped May 29 from the Finance Ministry in Baghdad.

"We want you to know that we continue to do everything we can, through all the channels available to us, to work towards your safe release," the message said.

The message included an appeal "to those who are holding our loved ones to end the pain we are all suffering and send the men back home to us safely."

Al-Arabiya, an Arabic-language network, Tuesday aired a video showing an image of one of the kidnapped men speaking at gunpoint. According to the network's news report, militants demanded that British troops leave Iraq in 10 days. It said the video was made on November 18. Watch video of British hostage in Iraq. »

The brief message expressed hope and urged the five to stay strong.

"We love you and miss you very much. We want you to know that in the six months since you were taken, we have not once forgotten you," it continued.

"You are constantly in our thoughts. While the pain of missing you does not go away we are all staying positive for you and hope that you are looking after yourselves and keeping your spirits up as much as you can under such circumstances."

The video of one of the men was the first heard from any of the five since they were seized by people posing as security forces and government workers.

A spokesman for GardaWorld, the Canadian-based security firm that employs the man, Tuesday told CNN that it believed the video to be authentic. However, he refused to give the name of the man in the tape.

The hostage is heard speaking English twice on the video. He says: "Hi, my name is Jason. Today is the 18th of November." Then he says: "We've been here for 173 days, and I feel we've been forgotten."

The group provided subtitles throughout the video, but the hostage is not heard saying other words because the audio is turned down for those portions.

"I would like to let you know that the kidnappers love the British and the American people but let our army leave Iraq," the subtitles say.

The British force, now at about 5,000, is concentrated around the southern city of Basra and is set to be reduced to 2,500 by next spring. But the militants are demanding that all of the forces leave.

The British Foreign Office Tuesday said it condemned the airing of the video because it "serves only to add to the distress of the men's families and friends.

"Since day one of the kidnap, consular officials have remained in regular contact with the families of the men," it said.

"No matter what the cause, hostage-taking can never be justified. We again call on those holding the men to release them unconditionally."

U.S. troops in October arrested three people they said were linked to a Shiite insurgent network believed responsible for the abduction. The U.S. military said the three were detained in a raids in Sadr City, the densely populated Shiite slum in Iraq's capital that is a bastion of support for anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mehdi Army militia, as well as other Shiite militant groups.

Al-Sadr in August suspended the operations of the militia for about six months after an upsurge of violence between his militia and a rival Shiite force, the Supreme Islamic Council of Iraq's Badr Organization. Al-Sadr and SICI head Abdul Aziz al-Hakim signed an agreement to foster peace and end hostilities among Iraqis.

Despite such developments, authorities believe some Shiite militants who had aligned themselves with the Mehdi Army are not heeding the cease-fire. E-mail to a friend

All About Sadr City • Muqtada al-Sadr