The advance team was equipped with sophisticated eavesdropping devices and included Arabic-speaking troopers able to blend in with locals, The Australian newspaper said.

Numbering between 12 and 30, the team flew out of the western city of Perth Tuesday night aboard a Hercules C-130 transport aircraft, the newspaper said.

It would provide ground support to a 15-strong team of hostage negotiators with state of the art communications equipment based near the Iraqi border.

A group calling itself the Horror Brigades of the Islamic Secret Army claimed earlier this week that it had kidnapped two Australians and two Asians from a convoy near the town of Samarra.

It threatened to kill the Australians within 24 hours if Australian troops were not withdrawn from Iraq.

The foreign ministry said Wednesday, more than 24 hours after the warning was received, that all 225 Australians known to be in Iraq had been accounted for.

Defence Minister Robert Hill would not be drawn in detail on the report, but told Channel Nine television that he had made "some decisions" this week in the interests of the alleged kidnap victims.

"We are concerned for the well-being of all Australians and when allegations such as this are made we take whatever prudent steps are necessary to try and safeguard their well-being," Hill said.

A Sydney Muslim sheik was reported Thursday to have been kidnapped and held in Iraq for four days before his release on Sunday.

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