|
US hostage found dead in Iraq
11/03/2006 08:57 - (SA)
Washington - A dead body found in Iraq has been identified as missing US hostage Tom Fox, a peace activist who was abducted along with three Western colleagues three months ago, a state department spokesperson said late on Friday.
"The FBI verified the identity of a body found in Iraq this morning. While additional forensics will be completed in the US, they believe this is the body of Tom Fox," state department spokesperson Noel Clay told reporters here.
Clay said Fox's family had been informed of the discovery and that the government had offered its "heartfelt condolences" to his relatives.
There was no news of the other three hostages, who appeared without Fox earlier this week in a video shown on Al-Jazeera television.
Clay did not say where Fox's body had been found in the war-torn country but said said the government called for the "unconditional release of all hostages" held in Iraq.
Christian Peacemaker Teams, the anti-war group which supported the four kidnapped men's work in Iraq, said in a statement on the group's website that Fox's death "pierces us with pain" while calling for the release of the other three.
Father of two
"We mourn the loss of Tom Fox who combined a lightness of spirit, a firm opposition to all oppression, and the recognition of God in everyone."
"We renew our plea for the safe release of Harmeet Sooden, Jim Loney and Norman Kember. Each of our teammates has responded to Jesus prophetic call to live out a nonviolent alternative to the cycle of violence and revenge," said the group.
The group urged all sides involved in the conflict to refrain from attempts "to vilify or demonize others" - even in the aftermath of this tragedy.
The father of two children from the US state of Virginia, Fox, 54, first travelled to Iraq in September 2004 to work with Iraqi human rights groups while preaching against the war, according to Christian Peacemakers.
He worked on a team with still-missing Canadians Sooden, 32, and Loney, 41, and Briton Kember, 74.
The four disappeared on November 26, and in December a group calling itself the Brigades of the Swords of Righteousness threatened to kill them unless all Iraqi prisoners were released, according to a video message broadcast on Al-Jazeera.
There was little more news about the four until a video broadcast on Al-Jazeera television on March 7 showed footage of Fox's three colleagues.
Conspicuously, however, Fox didn't appear in the video.
Claire Evans, a Christian Peacemakers delegation coordinator in Chicago, told AFP that they didn't know how or when Fox died or why he was the only one of the four to die.
"We don't know what the time frame was, the actual time of death," she said, noting only that his body was found early on Saturday. "We don't know what's going on with the other three," she added.
Evans said that while the group still maintains activities in Iraq with its long-term team members, the group has suspended visits by short-term teams like that which Fox joined.
|
News
