Two of three missing US civilians kidnapped by Shiite militia forces in Baghdad at the weekend are believed to have been working on a “critical” multimillion dollar deal to train Iraq’s counter-terrorism forces in the fight against the so-called Islamic State.

The Bureau has learned that a contract for US defence giant General Dynamics to provide services to Iraq’s government was quietly renewed by Washington without any formal tendering process towards the end of last year.

The deal had to be rushed through, according to a Federal procurement document, which stated: “Time is critically short due to the nature and complexity of international negotiations and agreement.”

The value of the renewed contract, which started last month, is not yet known but the previous 12-month deal that expired in November was worth $4.4million.

The question of using American contractors to train Iraq’s special forces has now been thrown into sharp focus.

A senior Iraqi military official told the Wall Street Journal yesterday that two of the three contractors kidnapped by Iran-backed forces from a private home in Baghdad over the weekend were military trainers working for General Dynamics.

The Journal reported their names as Amro Mohammed, an Egyptian-American, and Wael al-Mahdawy, an Iraqi-American. It also cited a police official naming the third as Russel Furat, an Iraqi-American woman.

It is not known whether she also works for General Dynamics, which is headquartered in Virginia. The US State Department has confirmed the abductions as searches continue.

General Dynamics had not at the time of publication responded to the Bureau’s request for comment.

The rise of Islamic State has undermined confidence in Iraq’s police and security system, with Shiite militias becoming increasingly aggressive in an unstable environment.

It was this fragile situation which formed the backdrop to negotiations about the special forces training contract last year.