Seven American soldiers were found safe and well in Iraq today after their captors apparently fled from US Marines advancing on Saddam Hussein's crumbling northern bastion of Tikrit.
"Someone came up to our Marines moving along the road headed for Tikrit and said, 'Here shortly you're going to come in contact with a number of Americans, just so you know'," US war commander General Tommy Franks told reporters.
"The tip came from an Iraqi and I believe our guys picked them up on the road."
A CNN reporter said the six men and one woman emerged from helicopters and were taken into ambulances near Baghdad, before being flown out on a transport plane which military sources said was heading to Kuwait.
Five ran out of the helicopter at a US-controlled airstrip and two walked slowly, apparently having suffered injuries. One soldier raised a fist, another had his arm in a sling.
CNN said the woman left the helicopter limping.
The only woman listed as missing or captured belonged to a maintenance company convoy that took a wrong turn and came under Iraqi fire. The convoy also included 19-year-old Jessica Lynch, rescued from a hospital by special forces on April 1st.
"They're in good shape and I know they're in our hands and under our control now," Franks, at war headquarters in the Gulf state of Qatar, earlier told reporters. The Washington Post's online edition quoted US officers as saying two of the seven had suffered gunshot wounds.