The brother of Lebanese-born US Corporal Wassef Ali Hassoun said today that the marine had been freed.
'We have received a call that reassured us. My brother is alive
and has been freed,' said Sami Hassoun. He refused to give any further details.
A statement attributed to the Islamic Retaliation Movement - Armed Resistance Wing, which had previously threatened to behead him, said he was 'taken to a safe place.' It said he had promised not to go back to the US army.
An Islamic militant group said at the weekend that Corporal Hassoun had been beheaded, but later denied saying this.
The US authorities say they have received no news of his fate, and he is still listed as captured.
Six killed in car bombing near Baquba
At least six people were killed and 35 were wounded in a car bomb attack today in Khales near Baquba.
The bomb exploded near a house where a memorial service was being held for two Iraqis killed in an attack last Sunday in Baquba.
US air strike on house in Fallujah
The interim government in Iraq has said it provided the intelligence information for the latest US air strike on a house in the town of Fallujah, west of Baghdad.
At least ten people were killed in the bombing, which targeted a suspected safe house used by insurgents led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Iraq's interim Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi, said US-led forces had consulted his week-old government before the attack.
Child shot dead in Baghdad
In Baghdad, US soldiers shot dead one Iraqi child and injured another last night.
The car their father was driving failed to stop at a checkpoint in the city despite repeated warnings.
The father was questioned after the incident while the mother and the injured child were brought to hospital.
Three Marines killed yesterday
Two US marines were killed in action and one died later from wounds received during an operation yesterday in Al-Anbar province in Iraq.
The soldiers, attached to the First Marine Expeditionary Force, were conducting what a spokesman called 'security and stability operations' in the west of the country.
