US Secretary of State Colin Powell yesterday called for unity among US-led forces in Iraq as a mortar attack in Baghdad killed a civilian and wounded more than a dozen soldiers and fears ran high for foreign hostages facing death threats.
Islamabad made a fresh appeal for two Pakistanis being held along with an Iraqi national, while Amman sought to negotiate the release of two Jordanian drivers abducted on Monday by a separate Islamic militant group.
Violence continued to claim civilian lives, as an early morning mortar attack in residential Baghdad killed a rubbish collector and wounded 14 US soldiers and a civilian.
South of Baghdad, a deputy hospital director, Kassem el-Abadi, 40, was shot dead by gunmen in a car on his way home late Monday, the health ministry said.
In Hungary, Powell called for countries which have deployed military forces in Iraq to stick together, as the hostage crisis continues to fray government nerves.
"There is a brighter future ahead for the Iraqi people only if the coalition stays together," Powell told Hungarian TV at the start of a tour of six Middle Eastern and European countries.
Hungary was one of about 30 countries that sent troops to Iraq after last year's US-led invasion, but maintains only about 300 soldiers in the country.
Five countries have already pulled out of the US-led multinational force. Washington fears that continued attacks, along with the kidnappings and brutal murders of a number of foreigners, will encourage others to follow suit.
Pakistan yesterday renewed its call for the release of two of its nationals threatened with death by their Islamic militant abductors, insisting they were not working for US forces and denying Islamabad planned to send troops to Iraq.
Azad Hussein Khan, 49, a maintenance engineer, and Sajjad Naeem, 29, a driver, are being held by a group calling itself the Islamic Army in Iraq.
"We appeal to the captors to release the two innocent Pakistanis in the name of humanity," said Pakistani foreign ministry spokesman Masood Khan.
In Amman, meanwhile, the government said it was optimistic that two Jordanian hostages who worked for a company supplying US forces in Iraq would soon be freed.
Ahmed Salameh Hussein, 34, and Fayez Saad al-Adwan, 58, were employed by the Jordanian company Daoud and Partners, a supplier to the US military.
"We are continuing to make contacts and are optimistic about reaching a positive outcome soon," said a Jordanian government official, asking not to be named.
The men's kidnappers have reportedly given the company 72 hours to halt its operations in Iraq, threatening otherwise to execute the two Jordanians.
Anguished relatives of more than 20 foreigners still missing or held hostage in Iraq took heart from the release of an Egyptian diplomat -- set free late on Monday after his abductors said they were impressed by his religious faith.
Speaking to reporters yesterday, Mohamed Mamdouh Kotb said he had been seized in protest at Egypt's ties with Iraq's US-backed caretaker government.
"These people are Islamists, definitely, they are not common criminals," he said. The men refused any kind of ransom for his release, he said.
Three Indians, three Kenyans and an Egyptian have been given an 11th-hour stay of execution after their kidnappers appointed a tribal sheikh to negotiate with their Kuwaiti employers and respective embassies.
The Philippines withdrew its forces from Iraq this month earlier than planned to secure the release of a kidnapped Filipino truck driver -- drawing stinging criticism from the US and Australia.
Also see story:
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)