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Yahoo! My Yahoo! Mail More Yahoo! Services Account Options New User? Sign Up Sign In Help Yahoo! Search web search Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology Africa Europe Latin America Middle East North America Britain, Iran downplay Tehran link to Iraq hostages AFP - Friday, January 1 Send IM Story Print Avril Sweeney, the mother of freed British hostage Peter Moore, poses for photographers at her home in Cleveleys in northwest England. transferred from US to Iraqi custody. Britain and Iran downplayed a report that the 2007 kidnapping of a British computer expert and his bodyguards in Iraq was led by Iran's Revolutionary Guard and that they were held there. LONDON (AFP) - – Britain and Iran downplayed Thursday a report that the 2007 kidnapping of a British computer expert and his bodyguards in Iraq was led by Iran's Revolutionary Guard and that they were held there. Peter Moore was freed unharmed Wednesday after a two-and-a-half year ordeal in which all four bodyguards are thought to have died. A first photo since his release showed him looking relaxed in the grounds of Britain's Baghdad embassy. Prime Minister Gordon Brown spoke to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki Thursday "to thank him for his efforts in the release of the British hostage Peter Moore," Downing Street said in a statement. But there is speculation a deal was done after it emerged the leader of the group which took Moore from a government building in Baghdad was being transferred from US to Iraqi custody. Timeline of Britons held in Iraq since 2007 Iran has dismissed as "baseless" reports of its involvement, saying they were motivated by British "anger" over a crackdown on opposition protests. "They emanate from the British anger towards the rallies in which millions of Iranians took part to condemn British interference in (Iran's) internal affairs," foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast was quoted as saying by state-controlled news channel Al-Alam. Britain added it had "no evidence" to support the report in the Guardian newspaper that the Revolutionary Guard led the operation and took the five to Iran within a day of their abduction. The BBC also quoted the US's former commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, as saying he was "90 percent certain" that the group was held in Iran for part of their time in captivity. Petraeus was quoted telling a correspondent earlier this month: "I'm absolutely certain. I'm 90 percent certain" when asked if they were taken to Iran, adding: "I'm pretty sure I've seen hard intelligence on it." Moore was targeted because he was installing a computer tracking system that would show how international aid money to Iraqi institutions was diverted to Iran's militia groups in Iraq, the Guardian said. A former unnamed Revolutionary Guard said the five were held in two camps. "It was an Iranian kidnap, led by the Revolutionary Guard, carried out by the Al-Quds brigade," he was quoted saying. An unnamed Iraqi government minister backed up the claims, telling the Guardian: "This was an IRG (Iranian Revolutionary Guard) operation". But Sami al-Askari, an Iraqi lawmaker who the Guardian suggested had flown to Iran to meet the kidnappers, denied this to the BBC, while acknowledging that he was involved in talks with the hostage-takers in Iraq. Britain's Foreign Office said it has "no evidence" to support the reports of an Iranian link. "We have seen speculation that Iran is directly involved in this case," a spokesman said. "Iran of course has an influence in Iraq, but we have no evidence to substantiate claims of direct involvement in this case." Amid speculation, denied by Britain, that a deal was done to secure 36-year-old Moore's release, the US confirmed Thursday that the leader of the group behind the kidnapping was being transferred to Iraqi custody. "The United States has complied with an Iraqi government request in accordance with the US-Iraqi Security Agreement and the rule of law to transfer AAH (Asaib al-Haq) members, to include Qais al-Khazaali, from US custody to Iraqi custody pursuant to an Iraqi arrest warrant," the US spokesman said. Although it was not immediately clear if Khazaali was still in US custody, the BBC reported that he had been handed over "very recently". Moore had thought he was about to be shot shortly before being set free, his stepmother told British media. "He did think he was going to get a bullet in the head. He was very frightened. He thought he was going to be killed. Then he realised he was to be released," Pauline Sweeney said. 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