Severed fingers of five Western hostages captured in Iraq reportedly were sent to U.S. government officials, giving the men's relatives hope that they are still alive, a brother of one of the missing men said.
The Austrian weekly magazine News first reported the delivery of the five fingers in Wednesday's edition, citing unidentified authorities working on the case.
Patrick Reuben, a Minneapolis police officer whose twin brother, Paul Reuben, is among the missing, said late Wednesday the FBI told his family members that "the fingers were confirmed to be those of the hostages."
Patrick Reuben told The Associated Press the news of the severed fingers was "shocking," but that the initial word the family got was "much more serious than that. Later on we found that it was fingers that were recovered and that the DNA confirmed it was the hostages."
In a statement Wednesday, the FBI declined to confirm the men had been identified by fingers.
"The FBI has received DNA evidence and is conducting an examination," spokesman Richard Kolko said. "We understand this is a very difficult time for the families and discussing this matter further in the media is not appropriate."
Kolko said the agency continues to investigate the whereabouts of the five men missing since 2006: Reuben, a former St. Louis Park, Minn., police officer; Joshua Munns of Redding, Calif.; John Young of Kansas City; Jonathon Cote of the Buffalo, N.Y. area, and Bert Nussbaumer of Austria.
FOXNews.com - Report: Severed Fingers of Kidnapped Westerners Sent to U.S. Officials - International News | News of the World | Middle East News | Europe News
These people who did this are the ones we cant waterboard but look what they will do.
I have lost part of a finger and I will tell ya I think I rather be waterboarded
Report: Severed Fingers of Kidnapped Westerners Sent to U.S. Officials
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