Security forces are searching for two Kuwaitis who were kidnapped while on a hunting trip in a desert area in Iraq, two security officials said on Monday.

A police colonel confirmed the kidnapping took place on Sunday in a desert area between Anbar and Salahuddin provinces.

However, an Iraqi foreign ministry statement referred only to one Kuwaiti national.

It said Iraq's Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein told his Kuwaiti counterpart Sheikh Salem Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah the Iraqi government would "determine the fate of the Kuwaiti national". The statement followed a phone call between the two ministers on Monday.

Iraqi security officials said an initial investigation showed that one of the hunters' vehicles was attacked by gunmen and contact had been lost with the two Kuwaitis.