- BAGHDAD (Reuters) -- Guerrillas
said Wednesday they had seized six more foreign hostages -- three Indians,
two Kenyans and an Egyptian -- and threatened to kill them one by one,
sparking a new hostage crisis a day after a kidnapped Filipino was freed.
-
- In video footage given to Arabic satellite channel Al
Arabiya, masked gunmen said they would behead the captives unless the Kuwaiti
company they worked for pulled out of Iraq.
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- "We announce we have captured two Kenyans, three
Indians and one Egyptian. We tell the company to withdraw and close its
offices in Iraq," said one of the masked men, from a group calling
itself the "Black Banners."
-
- The guerrillas also demanded that India, Kenya and Egypt
withdraw their citizens from Iraq. None of the countries are part of the
U.S.-led military coalition in Iraq but many of their nationals work as
drivers and contractors.
-
- "We have just heard the news. We are in touch with
our embassy in Baghdad and in Kuwait to find out all possible details and
to liaise with Iraqi authorities to seek early release of the persons reported
to be kidnapped and ensure their safe return," said E. Ahmed, junior
Indian foreign minister.
-
- An Egyptian diplomatic source confirmed that an Egyptian
truck driver named Mohammed Ali had been taken hostage.
-
- Monday, another Egyptian hostage was freed after his
Saudi employer pledged to stop doing business in Iraq.
-
- Tuesday, Filipino truck driver Angelo de la Cruz was
released from more than two weeks in captivity, after the Philippines bowed
to the demands of his captors and withdrew its small military contingent
from Iraq a month ahead of schedule.
-
- Manila's move was criticized by the United States and
Australia, both key allies, and by Iraq's interim government which said
the Philippines was giving in to terrorism.
-
- De la Cruz, a 46-year-old father of eight, flew to Abu
Dhabi Wednesday to be reunited with his wife before heading home. He said
he was well treated in captivity but often feared death.
-
- INTERNET THREATS
-
- Washington insists its coalition remains strong despite
the Philippines' decision to follow Spain, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua
and Honduras in pulling out of the country.
-
- But two more members of the coalition came under fresh
pressure Wednesday, with an Internet statement from a group claiming to
be the European wing of al Qaeda threatening the nations with attack unless
they withdrew from Iraq.
-
- "To the crusader Bulgarian government which supports
the Americans, we ask you for the last time to withdraw Bulgarian forces
from Iraq or we will turn Bulgaria into a bloodbath," said the statement.
Its authenticity could not be confirmed.
-
- "To Poland and the despicable Prime Minister Marek
Belka, withdraw your forces from Iraq or you will hear explosions ripping
through your country when we want," the statement added.
-
- Poland has 2,400 troops around south central Iraq. Bulgaria
has 455 troops in the same area.
-
- "We are treating the threat extremely seriously,
although I would say we have had more of these sorts of statements from
various organizations," Belka told Poland's parliament.
-
- "According to our security services, there are no
new events within Polish borders which would require any particular sort
of behavior, or reaction from our citizens."
-
- Tuesday, an Internet statement claiming to be from a
group led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said Japan would face
attacks unless it followed the example of the Philippines and withdrew
its 550 noncombat troops from Iraq.
-
- But another statement later in the day, also claiming
to be from Zarqawi's group, disowned the threat.
-
- TOKYO RESOLUTE
-
- Japan vowed to stand its ground.
-
- "For the rebuilding of Iraq, we must continue our
support and not give in to terrorism," Deputy Cabinet Secretary Masaaki
Yamazaki told a news conference in Tokyo.
-
- Yamazaki said Japan was checking the credibility of the
Internet threat. Japan's troops are based in the southern Iraqi town of
Samawa, a spot that has seen little of the kind of violence suffered by
other parts of Iraq.
-
- The United States has offered $25 million for the capture
of Zarqawi, its top militant target in Iraq. He is blamed for masterminding
a series of suicide bombings and for the killing of an American, a South
Korean and a Bulgarian hostage.
-
- A second Bulgarian hostage also captured by Zarqawi's
group is almost certainly dead, diplomats in Baghdad say.
-
- In Baghdad, a car bomb exploded in a residential area
on Wednesday evening, killing four people, police and witnesses said. It
was not clear what the target was, or whether the bomb had exploded prematurely.
-
- Rockets fired by guerrillas also hit a hospital in the
capital, killing two Iraqis and wounding three.
-
- Fighting between U.S. troops and insurgents erupted in
the city of Ramadi in western Iraq, witnesses said. A doctor at the city's
main hospital said at least five Iraqis were killed, including three brothers
whose car was destroyed by a roadside bomb planted by guerrillas to target
U.S. patrols.
-
- In Duluiya, about 40 miles north of Baghdad, a roadside
bomb destroyed a U.S. Bradley fighting vehicle, killing one soldier and
wounding six, the 1st Infantry Division said.
-
- The soldier was the fifth member of the U.S. military
killed in action in Iraq since Tuesday. The deaths bring to at least 661
the number of U.S. troops killed in action in Iraq since the invasion in
March 2003.
-
- The U.S. military said a report from Iraqi police that
an American helicopter was shot down near Ramadi was false.
-
- "We have not had any casualties in the past 24 hours
and no downed helicopters," a spokesman for the U.S. Marine Corps
in western Iraq said.
-
- - Additional reporting by Edmund Blair and Mariam Karouny
in Baghdad, Suleiman Khalidi in Amman and Kazunori Takada in Tokyo
-
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