Dubai: As efforts are on to secure the safe release of three Indians held hostage in Iraq, a Jordanian firm dealing with US forces in the war-ravaged country has said it will scale down its operations in an attempt to save the lives of its two kidnapped employees.

Jordanian truck drivers Ahmad Salameh Hussein and Fayez Saad al-Adwan were kidnapped by an Iraqi group on Monday (Jul 26, 2004), five days after an outfit calling itself 'Black Flags' abducted three Indians along with three Kenyans and one Egyptian. All the seven were truck drivers working for the Kuwaiti transport firm KGL.

Similar to the demands made by the captors of Antaryami, Tilak Raj and Sukhdev Singh, the kidnappers of the Jordanians also asked their company 'Daoud and Partners' to stop working for the US in Iraq.

The company has decided to cancel its construction work at a US base in Iraq and withdraw, al-Jazeera TV reported.

The firm hoped the announcement would ensure the safety of its staff and obtain the release of the two drivers.

The announcement was welcomed by relatives of the kidnapped men, whose captors had threatened to kill them if their demands were not met within 72 hours.

Efforts are under way to negotiate with the kidnappers using tribal channels and Jordanian Government officials say they are "optimistic" about securing the men's release.