LONDON, Oct. 22 (Xinhuanet) -- A British newspaper journalist, who was taken hostage in Iraq but freed the next day, is expected to fly home, owing his release to a joint effort from the British and Irish government and Iraq's deputy prime minister, BBC reported on Saturday.

    Rory Carroll, a 33-year-old Irish journalist working for British newspaper The Guardian, was snatched at gunpoint in the suburb of Sadr City in eastern Baghdad on Wednesday but was released unharmed on Thursday after 36 hours in captivity.

    Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today program just before he left Baghdad, he said he feared he would be held for months or even beheaded like previous hostages.

    Carroll told the BBC he owned his release to a joint effort from the British and Irish governments and "possibly the Iranian government", adding that the "crucial character" in securing the release was Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Ahmed Chalabi. "He used his influence," he said.

    Republic of Ireland Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern has said no ransom was paid for the release of Carroll, but he refused to say whether Iraqi prisoners had bee freed in a deal, according to the report.

    While held captive in a small basement room, Carroll said he was treated like an "exotic pet that would be taken out on occasion to be fed and watered but basically needed to be restrained". But on Thursday night, Carroll said, one of his kidnappers received a mobile phone call before he was freed. Enditem