Alec MacLachlan

Members of the Iraqi insurgency began taking foreign hostages beginning in April 2004. Since then, they have captured more than 200 foreigners and thousands of Iraqis; among them, dozens of hostages were killed and others rescued or freed. In 2004, executions of captives were often filmed, and many were beheaded. The number of recorded killings later decreased significantly, but many hostages remain missing. In the summer of 2004, the United States Department of State set up the Hostage Working Group, organized by the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, to monitor foreign hostages in Iraq.

The motives for these kidnappings include:

• influencing foreign governments with troops in Iraq to withdraw
• influencing foreign companies with workers in Iraq to leave the country
• demanding ransom money
• creating terror in Iraq
• discouraging travel to Iraq
• prisoner exchange

The following is a list of known civilian foreign nationals who have been taken hostage in Iraq.