Hostage pleads with Philippines

2004-07-10 16:24

Baghdad - Four people were killed in sporadic violence around Iraq on Saturday as a Philippine hostage made a final appeal to his government to withdraw its troops before his captors carry out a threat to behead him.

As the Filipino begged for his life, there was no news on the fate of two Bulgarians and an Egyptian who have also been abducted in the country.

"To President Gloria Arroyo, please withdraw the Philippine soldiers from Iraq," said the hostage, dressed in orange overalls in a videotape broadcast on Arabic satellite channel Al-Jazeera.

Angelo de la Cruz's kidnappers have given Manila until Sunday to agree to their demand to withdraw its handful of 51 soldiers and police from Iraq, or they would behead him.

The video was sanctioned by the kidnappers as De la Cruz's "final appeal... before his execution" deadline, the Doha-based channel said.

But Manila announced on Saturday it would pull its troops out of Iraq on schedule in August and would not bow to the demands of the captors.

De la Cruz, 46, was abducted by a group calling itself the Islamic Army in Iraq - Khaled Ibn al-Walid Brigade, as he drove into Iraq from Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile, the counsellor at the Egyptian interest section in Baghdad said it had no news of missing Sayed Mohammed Sayed al-Garbawi.

$1m ransom

"We have not been able to contact the people who captured him. We have talked to the Iraqi authorities to try to get them to help us," Mohammed Mamdouh Kotb said.

Garbawi's kidnappers have demanded a $1m ransom as a condition for his release, his Saudi sponsor and the company he works for said in remarks published on Saturday, adding the ransom demand had been refused.

Further raising the profile of the captives' plight, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on Friday urged militants to free Georgy Lazov and Ivailo Kepov of Bulgaria, as well as De la Cruz.

On Thursday, a group linked to Al-Qaeda threatened to execute the two Bulgarians unless US troops freed Iraqi prisoners within 24 hours.

Adding to the drama, a Pakistani man freed by Iraqi insurgents last week said Saturday he saw three men, two of whom he described as English-speakers, being beheaded by his captors while he was held hostage for eight days.

Of dozens of foreigners kidnapped since April, some have been released and others killed.

Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's office said Iraqi authorities were working with the US-led military to help secure their release.

"The interim Iraqi government is coordinating with the multinational force to help secure the release of these hostages," an official said on condition of anonymity.

"The government is doing its best to secure their safety," he said, without giving details about the measures being taken in a bid to resolve the crisis.

- AFP