PoWs 'are Civilian Drivers'

Two prisoners of war shown by Arab broadcaster al-Jazeera are civilian lorry drivers sub-contracted for aid work in Iraq, the Ministry of Defence said today.

The men, who are believed to be Kenyans, were civilians hired through a company in Saudi Arabia and were part of an aid convoy with a military escort, an MoD spokeswoman told BBC Online.

They had apparently been captured after being separated from the convoy after failing to follow it in making a turning. Around the time they disappeared there had also been a "civil disturbance" which affected the convoy, the MoD spokeswoman said.

Al-Jazeera said it believed they were Kenyans working for the British army as lorry drivers. The MoD said it was normal to hire civilians as drivers but said it could not confirm if the men were British citizens. The Kenyan high commission in London was investigating their identities.

The men, who were not thought to be troops because one has a dreadlocks hairstyle, looked dazed in footage first broadcast by al-Jazeera yesterday. The coalition is attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to Iraqis while the military campaign in Iraq is ongoing.

The defence secretary, Geoff Hoon, criticised the station for showing the film of the PoWs and for screening footage of two dead British soldiers. It was wrong, he said, for TV stations to "parade" PoWs.

However senior producers at the Qatar-based satellite channel were defiant today and told mediaguardian.co.uk that they reserved the right to broadcast material based on "newsworthiness and relevance".