A British civilian contractor, Gary Teeley, who was kidnapped in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah has been released.
According to the British Foreign Office, Mr Teeley is safe and well.
The news of his release comes as fears grow for the safety of three Japanese hostages.
It is reported that an unidentified negotiator has told Japanese officials that Japanese civilians are still being held in Iraq, but are safe.
Earlier, the Arabic television station, Al Jazeera reported that their captors have threatened to kill one of them within 24 hours if Tokyo does not pull its troops out of Iraq.
There had been growing expectation that the hostages would be released in response to a call from the Muslim Clerics' Association in Iraq. But the Japanese Foreign Ministry could not confirm this.
A Japanese diplomat in the Jordanian capital, Amman, said that neither the whereabouts nor the safety of the three has been confirmed.
Another civilian who was taken hostage, believed to be a middle-aged American named Thomas Hamill, is still being held by Iraqi militants who have threatened to kill him if the US forces do not lift their siege of Fallujah.
An Arabic television station has also reported that eight other foreign hostages, three from Pakistan, two Turks, an Indian, a Nepali and one from the Philippines, had been freed.
However, there was no independent confirmation of this report.
