Anger over kidnapped man's treatment

The mother of a man kidnapped and then killed by Iraqi militants in 2007 said she agreed the Foreign Office treated him like a second-class citizen.

Alec MacLachlan from Llanelli was one of five men captured in Baghdad, of whom four were killed.

The leader of the group who took them hostage has apologised for their deaths, but blamed the UK government for not doing enough to intervene.

The Foreign Office said it takes all kidnappings "extremely seriously".

IT expert Peter Moore, from Lincoln, was freed in December 2009, but his captors killed his four bodyguards.

Mr MacLachlan along with Jason Swindlehurst, from Skelmersdale, Lancashire, Jason Creswell, originally from Glasgow, and Alan McMenemy, from Glasgow, were acting as bodyguards for Mr Moore when they were all taken hostage.

Their captors had wanted to use the men as part of a hostage exchange.

Sheik Qais al-Khazali, leader of Asaib Ahl al-Haq - or League of the Righteous - blamed the UK for the deaths.

League of the Righteous is now a political force - as well as a military force - in Iraq.

In an interview in Baghdad, Sheik Qais al-Khazali told the BBC's Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen he had been in prison when Mr Moore and his team were taken.

He said he was sorry for the deaths, adding that the kidnappings and the killings should never have happened.

Sheik Qais al-Khazali said the kidnaps and killing should not have happened

"I think that the British government is responsible for their deaths because it was not serious in the negotiations with the side that held them," said Sheik Qais al-Khazali. "If they were fast enough that wouldn't have happened.

"The British government concentrated only on Peter Moore. The bodyguards were second-class citizens.

"That was a surprise for us."

Helen Maclachlan was too upset to be interviewed after unexpectedly seeing her son on the news again but told BBC Wales she agreed with his comments.

She said there was a media blackout at the time and that they were told not to release names or details. She felt Mr Moore was publicised and prioritised over the others.

Mrs Maclachlan last wrote to the Foreign Office at Christmas time asking for an update on the case and was told that investigations were continuing.

A Foreign Office spokesperson said: "All kidnaps of British nationals are taken extremely seriously.

"The responsibility for murdering British hostages lies entirely with those who kidnapped and murdered them."

Five years after the men's deaths no-one has yet been brought to justice.

The League of the Righteous, which now encompasses a political party, is a powerful and feared Shia Muslim fighting group that is heavily involved in the war against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis).

The group emerged during the fight against the Americans and the British after the invasion of Iraq in 2003.