World IN BRIEF : INDIA : Reports of Hostages’ Deaths Investigated

Ambassadors from four countries flew to northern India to investigate reports that separatist militants have killed and buried four Western hostages. Their visit came after Indian security forces, assisted by the FBI and Scotland Yard, called off a search for the bodies of the missing men after failing to find any sign of the graves. A captured militant said last month that the shadowy Al Faran group had killed Donald Hutchings of Spokane, Wash.; Keith Mangan of Middlesbrough, England; Paul Wells of London; and Dirk Hasert of Erfurt, Germany. The men were kidnapped while hiking in July. A fifth hostage, a Norwegian, was found beheaded in August.