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Harmeet Sooden

Hostage slaying boosts fears for Sooden

"I don't feel good about it. It's not a good sign. I want to stay hopeful."

Australian Donna Mulhearn is a friend of Sooden - an Auckland student - and American Tom Fox, whose body was found in Baghdad on Friday morning.

The United States confirmed yesterday that the body of the 54-year-old Virginian had been found.

He, Sooden and two other Christian Peacemaker Team workers, Briton Norman Kember and Canadian Jim Loney, were kidnapped in Western Baghdad in November by a group calling itself Swords of Truth.

Sooden's brother-in-law Mark Brewer sounded strained as he recounted the family's tense day yesterday waiting for confirmation of Fox's murder, details of which have not been made public.

After receiving an early morning alert from Foreign Affairs officials, they waited until mid-afternoon for confirmation.

"We're thinking of the Foxes and what they are going through," Brewer said.

"Our hearts and prayers are with them. We're hoping they can get through this and be strong."

The development has heightened their anxiety over Sooden's fate, despite seeing him alive in a video broadcast on Al-Jazeera television last week.

"All sorts of things go through your mind. At this stage we're just being together and trying to be busy. We hope he's being strong and certainly thinking of us and we're thinking of him."

The family was keeping in touch with New Zealand and Canadian government officials, and planned to stay in New Zealand until there had been some resolution to the crisis.

Efforts to secure the release of the remaining hostages were being led by the Canadian government.

Asked if efforts would be escalated following the killing, a Foreign Affairs spokesman said, "It's already a very serious situation. There are already very strenuous efforts being made to secure their release."

He refused to say if contact had been established with the hostage takers.

Acting Prime Minister Dr Michael Cullen said he was deeply saddened by the killing.

He said Sooden's group had been in Iraq for the sole purpose of helping the Iraqi people. "To see the peaceful mission meet this tragic end is beyond comprehension."

Mulhearn said she was devastated by news of Fox's death.

"I never thought it would come to this. I expected all four of those men to survive and carry on.

"Tom's much loved in Iraq. He was a man with a big heart who put everything into his work. He really reached out to the Iraqi people like they were his brothers and sisters.

"My Iraqi friends adored him. He loved and cared for them and they loved and cared for him back."

Mulhearn would often bump into Fox in Iraq's Karrada St, where his peacemaking team base was just down the road from her charity for orphans and streetkids. Both went to St Raphael's Catholic Church.