- DUBAI (Reuters) - The Philippines
will withdraw its forces from Iraq "as soon as possible," Philippine
deputy foreign minister Rafael Seguis said on Monday in a statement he
read out on al Jazeera television.
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- "In response to your request, the Philippines ...
will withdraw its humanitarian forces as soon as possible," Seguis
said according to al Jazeera's Arabic translation of his remarks.
-
- His statement was addressed to a group calling itself
the Islamic Army in Iraq, which is holding a Filipino driver hostage and
has threatened to kill him unless Manila agrees to withdraw its troops
by July 20.
-
- "I hope the statement that I read will touch the
heart of this group," Seguis told the satellite television from Baghdad.
-
- He declined to give an exact date for the 50 humanitarian
troops' withdrawal, which Manila had insisted would take place by August
20 as earlier scheduled.
-
- Seguis appealed to the group to release their hostage,
truck driver Angelo de la Cruz, and added: "We know that Islam is
the religion of peace and mercy."
-
- Al Jazeera said earlier the group extended by 24 hours
to Monday night its deadline for killing de la Cruz, which had expired
at 11 p.m. Iraqi time (3 p.m. EDT) on Sunday.
-
- The channel showed a video tape in which it said de la
Cruz appealed to Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to swiftly
withdraw troops from Iraq so he could return to his family.
-
- He was shown wearing orange overalls and standing in
front of three masked captors holding automatic weapons and ammunition
belts.
-
- De la Cruz's family has said he went to Saudi Arabia
a year ago to work as a driver after a long period of unemployment.
-
- He was abducted last week near the Iraqi town of Falluja
while driving a fuel shipment from Saudi Arabia.
-
- At least 4,000 Philippine civilians work in Iraq, many
employed by contractors and working in U.S. military bases.
-
- Three Philippine workers have been killed in attacks
by insurgents opposed to the U.S. military presence in Iraq.
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