- Four bodies feared to be those of US contractors missing
in Iraq since last Friday were discovered in a roadside shallow grave outside
Baghdad last night, raising the political pressure on President Bush less
than two hours before he was due to give a rare prime-time news conference
to address the mounting crisis in Iraq.
-
- The US State Department said it was too soon to confirm
the identities of the bodies, described by one official as "mutilated
beyond recognition". It was also not clear whether they had perished
in an ambush, their bodies consumed by flames from an explosion, or had
been seized alive and then executed.
-
- All indications, however, suggested that they were among
the seven US contractors who disappeared following an ambush on a fuel
convoy near Baghdad airport. The grave site was near the intersection of
highways 1 and 10 on the road between Abu Ghraib and Fallujah, very close
to the ambush site. US officials told an NBC reporter in Baghdad that they
had been directed to the site by an Iraqi who believed Americans were buried
there.
-
- Halliburton, the Texas oil services company whose Kellogg
Brown and Root subsidiary has the contract to ship supplies to the US military
in Iraq, said in a statement it had been informed of the discovery and,
although it echoed the government's lack of confirmation, acknowledged
the likelihood that the bodies would turn out to be KBR employees.
-
- As the number of hostages has mounted in the past week
to the current total of more than 40, several governments have urged foreign
workers to leave the country. The British Foreign Office yesterday joined
Germany, France and the Czech Republic in calling on everyone except those
with essential business in Iraq to leave.
-
- The kidnaps, particularly when the victims are shown
on television, put intense pressure on their home governments. Four Italians,
said to be employees of a private American security company, were shown
seated on the ground and holding up their passports on al-Jazeera television
yesterday. Armed men standing around them called on Italy to withdraw its
troops from Iraq. So far, none have been killed.
-
- The kidnappers of three Japanese, seized last week, had
threatened to burn them to death on 11 April unless Japan withdrew its
troops, but there is no word of their fate. Five Ukrainians and three Russians
were released yesterday. Their seizure was planned by masked gunmen who
invaded their suburban house. By one account, the kidnappers were looking
for workers from countries belonging to the US-led coalition, and Russia
opposed the invasion of Iraq. As soon as the gunmen realised the nationality
of those they had taken, they let them go with apologies, said Interenergoservis,
their company.
-
- An estimated 1,000 British civilians, including contractors,
aid workers and journalists, are in Iraq, and there are fears that they
could be targeted by Iraqi insurgents and foreign fighters as they attempt
to use hostages to rid the country of occupying forces.
-
- Much of the hostage-taking appears to be random. Gunmen
on the roads are often village militia. They seize foreigners and local
leaders, and later decide what to do with them. It does not yet appear
that hostage-taking is an organised political tactic.
-
- Many of the foreigners kidnapped have been seized on
the main highway between Baghdad and Jordan, where it passes near Fallujah
and Ramadi. Even while Fallujah has remained quiet, fighting continued
yesterday in the area, with one US helicopter brought down by a rocket
12 miles east of the city. Four US soldiers were wounded as they rushed
to the crash site.
-
- SIX DAYS OF KIDNAPPING
-
- 8 April
-
- A video shows three Japanese - a student, Noriaki Imai,
18; an aid worker, Nahoko Takato, 34; and a photojournalist, Soichiro Koriyama,
32. The captors had threatened to burn the hostages alive unless Japan
withdrew its troops. Iranian television airs footage of Nabil George Razuq,
30, a Palestinian from East Jerusalem, and Fadi Ihsan Fadel, a Canadian
aid worker, said to be held by the Ansara-Din group, which describes them
as Israeli spies. Seven South Korean evangelical church pastors are freed.
-
- 9 April
-
- Insurgents attack a US convoy in Abu Ghurayb, near Baghdad.
Three days later, Lt-Gen Ricardo Sanchez, commander of US forces in Iraq,
says seven contractors for Kellogg, Brown & Root and two US soldiers
went missing. An American being held, Thomas Hamill, says he was the only
survivor of the convoy attack.
-
- 10 April
-
- A group says it is holding 30 foreigners and threatens
to behead them unless US forces lift a blockade of Fallujah. The German
Foreign Ministry says Tobias Ritrath, 25, and Thomas Haffenker, 38, died
escorting diplomats from Jordan to Baghdad.
-
- 11 April
-
- Gary Teeley, 37, a British civilian missing in Nasiriyah,
is freed. Eight others - three Pakistanis, two Turks, a Filipino, an Indian
and a Nepalese - are freed.
-
- 12 April
-
- Two Czech TV journalists may have been kidnapped, their
company says. In addition, Czech state radio reporter Vit Pohanka is unaccounted
for.
-
- Seven Chinese nationals who had been abducted in Fallujah
the day before are released.
-
- Five kidnapped Ukrainians and three Russians are freed.
-
- 13 April
-
- Four men described as Italians are held by the Mujahedin
Brigades, which demand Italy withdraws troops.
-
- THE HOSTAGES
-
- CONFIRMED KIDNAPS (NOT YET RELEASED):
- 3 Japanese
- 1 Palestinian
- 1 Canadian
- 1 American
- 4 Italians
-
- CONFIRMED KIDNAPS (RELEASED):
- 7 South Koreans
- 1 Briton
- 3 Pakistanis
- 2 Turks
- 1 Indian
- 1 Nepali
- 1 Filipino
- 7 Chinese
- 5 Ukrainians
- 3 Russians
-
- REPORTED MISSING
- 2 Germans (believed dead)
- 3 Czechs
- 2 US soldiers
- 7 Contractors (presumed US, believed dead)
-
- UNCONFIRMED KIDNAPS
- 30 foreign hostages (no proof from kidnappers)
-
- © 2004 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd
- http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=511266
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