Bodies of 4 Hostages Found in Chechnya

The bodies of four foreigners who were beheaded after an attempt to rescue them from kidnappers have been found in Chechnya and will be sent to Britain, a news report said in Moscow. The bodies of Peter Kennedy, Darren Hickey and Rudolf Petschi of Britain and New Zealand’s Stanley Shaw were found late Friday night on the outskirts of the Chechen capital of Grozny, said Chechen presidential spokesman Mairbek Vachagayev, according to the Itar-Tass news agency. Russia’s Interior Ministry, however, said it has been unable to confirm the report. The foreigners’ heads were found on a roadside Dec. 8 after a rescue attempt by local authorities apparently went awry. The men, all engineers who were installing a cellular phone system, were kidnapped in early October. Officials said the bodies would be sent to Britain.