The Philippines said it would begin pulling troops out of Iraq yesterday to save the life of a Filipino hostage despite calls by the US and other allies not to bow to the demands of the kidnappers.
Diplomats in Baghdad said a headless corpse found in the Tigris River was probably that of a Bulgarian hostage killed by militants linked to al-Qaeda ally Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi. Hopes of finding a second Bulgarian alive were fading, they said.
Philippine Foreign Affairs Sec-retary Delia Albert said all of Manila's small force in Iraq would leave soon.
PHOTO: REUTERS
"The Philippine government has recalled the head of the Philippine humanitarian contingent in Iraq. He is leaving Iraq today with 10 members of the Philippine humanitarian contingent," Albert said. The rest would follow shortly.
In Baghdad, a source said the 10 soldiers and their commander had left the Philippine embassy in Baghdad early yesterday for Hilla in south-central Iraq, where the contingent is based.
On Thursday, Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi urged Manila to hold firm as he announced the formation of a domestic spy agency to "annihilate" the insurgents launching almost daily attacks on security forces and engaging in a spate of kidnappings.
Washington had tried to persuade its Asian ally not to cave in to militants who have threatened to kill Filipino truck driver Angelo de la Cruz. Some analysts said the move would severely strain Manila's relations with Washington.
The US insisted on Thursday that its coalition in Iraq remained strong despite the Philippine decision to follow Spain, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Honduras in pulling out.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard criticized Manila.
"I don't want to be harsh on a friend but ... it's a mistake and it won't buy them immunity," he told Australian radio.
De la Cruz told his family in a videotaped message he would be returning home, Arabic channel al Jazeera said on Thursday.
But the group holding him said it would only free him after Manila withdrew its last soldier.
The last of Thailand's troops will be out of Iraq by Sept. 20, marking the end of a controversial year-long mission, the country's defence minister said yesterday.
"We have started withdrawal procedures ... and I expect our last soldier would arrive home on Sept. 20," General Chettha Thanajaro told reporters here.
Thailand sent a 451-strong contingent of troops to Iraq for a purely humanitarian mission and the one-year deployment had been due to end in late September.
Bulgaria watched a deadline for the execution of a second Bulgarian hostage held by militants pass without news on Wednesday but refused to pull out its troops.
The headless body pulled out of the Tigris south of the city of Mosul on Wednesday night was wearing an orange jumpsuit, similar to those in which several hostages have been dressed in guerrilla videotapes.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
North Korea has detained another official over last week’s failed launch of a warship, which damaged the naval destroyer, state media reported yesterday. Pyongyang announced “a serious accident” at Wednesday last week’s launch ceremony, which crushed sections of the bottom of the new destroyer. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the mishap a “criminal act caused by absolute carelessness.” Ri Hyong-son, vice department director of the Munitions Industry Department of the Party Central Committee, was summoned and detained on Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. He was “greatly responsible for the occurrence of the serious accident,” it said. Ri is the fourth person
The collapse of the Swiss Birch glacier serves as a chilling warning of the escalating dangers faced by communities worldwide living under the shadow of fragile ice, particularly in Asia, experts said. Footage of the collapse on Wednesday showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside into the hamlet of Blatten. Swiss Development Cooperation disaster risk reduction adviser Ali Neumann said that while the role of climate change in the case of Blatten “still needs to be investigated,” the wider impacts were clear on the cryosphere — the part of the world covered by frozen water. “Climate change and
RSS