The family of the 28-year-old bodyguard spoke of their shock after learning of the former paratrooper’s abduction from the finance ministry in Baghdad with three other minders and a computer expert.

Mr MacLachlan’s parents, Helen and Colin, from Llanelli, South Wales, said they were hoping their son, who has a three-year-old child, would soon be released.

His mother said: “Someone from GardaWorld – Mr Mac­Lachlan’s employers – phoned us but we don’t know anything more other than what we see on the television and in the news.

“We are just so upset and shocked – we just want to know our son is safe.”

Their other son, 30-year-old Ross, is serving with the Army in Kuwait but has been told he can return home to comfort his ­parents.

● The family of a British military policeman who was among seven Nato soldiers killed when Taliban fighters shot down a Chinook ­helicopter in southern Afghan­istan on Wednesday have asked for “a period of grace” before his name is released.

The soldier died when the ­military helicopter came down near Kajaki in Helmand Province.