Iraqi insurgents free Filipino hostage, warn Japan
TRUE to its pledge, an Iraqi militant group yesterday freed a Filipino truck driver it had held hostage for two weeks, after the Philippine government acceded to the demand that it withdrew troops from the Gulf nation.
The militant group had threatened to behead the hostage, Angelo de la Cruz, in the manner it had done to some other hostages.
The United States (U.S.), Australia and Iraq's interim government have accused Manila of caving in to terrorists. But Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo defended the decision, arguing that the father of eight did not deserve to die.
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, an Islamic militant with suspected ties to al-Qaeda, warned Japan it should now do the same and pull its troops out of Iraq or face attacks.
The kidnappers of Filipino de la Cruz dropped him at the United Arab Emirates' (UAE) embassy in Baghdad yesterday morning. He was taken to the Philippine embassy, where he looked tired and occasionally brushed away tears, television pictures showed.
Wearing a polo shirt, trousers and plastic sandals, de la Cruz spoke to Arroyo and his wife by telephone. He also ate a meal of noodles with Philippine embassy staff.
Arroyo said she decided to withdraw a small military contingent early because of the importance of looking after some eight million Filipino workers abroad.
"A father of eight, Angelo has become a Filipino everyman, a symbol of the hardworking Filipino seeking hope and opportunity," she said.
Militants threatening to behead de la Cruz had set a July 20 deadline for Philippine troops to leave Iraq. They had been previously due to depart on August 20.
A source at the UAE embassy quoted de la Cruz, who was first reported captured on July 7, as saying the kidnappers told him to go inside the building and ask for help.
"We were really surprised to see him here," the source said.
De la Cruz told his wife Arsenia in a televised telephone call that he was not mistreated. A tearful Arsenia, who had spent an anxious week in the Jordanian capital Amman, thanked the kidnappers for not harming her husband.
Al-Zarqawi said in a statement posted on an Islamist Web site that Japan now should do the same as the Philippines.
"This message is directed to the Japanese government. Do what the Philippines has done because no one else can help you ... Your fate will be like that of the Americans` and others," read the statement posted on a Web site that has carried previous comments from al-Zarqawi.
An American, a South Korean and a Bulgarian have been beheaded by a group led by al-Zarqawi, the U.S. military's prime target in Iraq. Hopes that a second Bulgarian hostage is still alive are fading.
Kidnappers have seized dozens of foreigners since April to press demands for foreign troops to leave, to deter foreigners from working with U.S. forces or to extract ransoms.
Many hostages have been freed, including an Egyptian released on Monday, but at least four have been killed. And a Turkish truck driver may have been taken hostage, colleagues said on Monday.
The U.S. which led the invasion that ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein last year, has said its coalition remains strong despite the Philippine decision to follow Spain, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Honduras in pulling out.
"It is regrettable we lost a member of the coalition and regrettable countries are making decisions that would appear to be appeasing terrorists as opposed to standing up to them," U.S. Gen. John Abizaid, commander of American troops in the Middle East and Afghanistan, told reporters in Bahrain.
The hostage-taking has added to the burden on the interim Iraqi government, struggling with a renewed burst of suicide car bomb attacks and assassinations of senior officials.
A member of the regional council of Basra, Iraq's second biggest city, and two bodyguards were assassinated yesterday, a council spokesman said.
A roadside bomb exploded near the restive town of Baquba north of Baghdad, killing four Iraqi civilians in a minivan, a survivor of the attack and hospital officials said.
Another roadside bomb killed a 12-year-old girl on the outskirts of the city of Kerbala south of Baghdad, police said.
A suicide bomber blew up a fuel truck near a Baghdad police station on Monday, killing at least nine people. The bombing was the latest of at least five suicide attacks over the past week.
