BAGHDAD, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad has identified two of four U.S. civilian security contractors kidnapped as they escorted a convoy in southern Iraq last week.
In a release, the men were identified as Paul Reuben, 39, from Minnesota, and Jonathon Cote, 23, from upstate New York, ABC News reported Tuesday. Reuben is a former Marine and police officer, while Cote served with the Army in Afghanistan and Iraq, the statement said.
Their group was taken at gunpoint as they were escorting a convoy that stopped at a phony police checkpoint last Thursday.
The embassy statement said it was believed all the men were alive but offered no further information.
Private contractors employ some 80,000 U.S. civilians in Iraq. More than 600 civilian contractors have been killed since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, the report said.
