BAGHDAD, June 12 (UPI) -- Iraqi police confirmed Saturday a Lebanese man taken hostage earlier this week has been killed, but seven Turkish construction workers were released.
Police sources said the slain man, identified as Hussein Ali, was recently abducted while en route to work at a Lebanese contracting company in Baghdad.
They said the Shiite victim appeared to have been tortured by his abductors "before he was brutally killed."
Lebanese officials told the Voice of America that Hussein Ali's body, along with the bodies of two of his Iraqi colleagues, was dumped onto a road between Fallujah and Ramadi, west of Baghdad.
Other sources in Baghdad said seven Turkish hostages were released Saturday in good condition. Their abductors last week released a video of the seven Turks and the gunmen all demanding Turkish companies stop conducting business in Iraq.
Kidnapping of foreigners for ransom in Iraq has been increasing, obstructing the pace of reconstruction in the country.
