Iraqi gunmen freed four Jordanian hostages in a raid on their captors' hide-out, one of the released captives said on Wednesday, while a video from kidnappers said two Turkish hostages had also been released. The news provided a moment of respite in the hostage crisis confronting Iraq's interim government, but fighting between police and insurgents in Mosul that killed at least 20 people underscored the scale of the security challenge it faces. One of the Jordanian hostages said he had been released with three other Jordanian truck drivers after a group of Iraqis stormed a house in the city of Falluja late on Tuesday and freed them without firing a shot. "When the brave people of Falluja knew that we were held hostage they raided the house and rescued us last night. We are all safe," one of the hostages, Ahmad Hassan Abu Jafaar, said. "We're expecting to go back to Jordan today." The Iraqi rescuers were sent by a council of local elders formed last month to battle crime and kidnapping in Falluja.
