BAGHDAD, Iraq – Militants freed a Filipino truck driver Tuesday after the Philippines government gave in to their demands to withdraw troops from Iraq to prevent the killing of the 46-year-old father of eight, who had been held captive for two weeks.
Apparently emboldened by their success, insurgents promptly took aim at Japan, threatening in a Web site message to send “lines of cars laden with explosives” to kill its 500 troops in Iraq if they did not leave.
Japan said today that it did not intend to withdraw.
Also Tuesday, the American military said two U.S. Marines and two U.S. soldiers were killed in action in Anbar province, a Sunni-dominated area west of Baghdad.
Two Marines were killed in separate incidents Tuesday while conducting security and stability operations. One soldier was killed Monday, and a second died Monday of his wounds.
At least 895 U.S. service members have died since the beginning of military operations in Iraq in March 2003, according to a count of names of the dead released by the Pentagon. A roadside bomb killed a U.S. soldier early today, and added to the latest deaths will raise the toll to 900.
More than 60 foreigners have been taken hostage in recent months, and there were fears that the action by the Philippine government would lead to more kidnappings.
“The Filipino withdrawal tells the insurgents that they can continue to chip away at this coalition and make it a coalition of two (Britain and the United States),” said Richard Shultz, a professor of security studies at Tufts University.
In Baghdad, Filipino hostage Angelo dela Cruz was dropped off in front of the United Arab Emirates Embassy on Tuesday, a day after his government withdrew the last of the 51 troops it had stationed in Baghdad.
Dela Cruz said his captors treated him well, and he thanked Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo for pulling out the troops. “I know that the Filipinos are all very happy about the decision of the president,” he said.
Violence continued Tuesday, with a roadside bomb attack on a vehicle near the city of Baqouba that killed four civilians and wounded two others, said Emad Kamil Rahim, a local hospital official.
Also, in the southern city of Basra, gunmen killed Hazim al-Aynachi, a gubernatorial candidate, and his bodyguard and driver as they were leaving for work Tuesday morning, council head Abdul Bari Faiyek said.
In Samarra, U.S. forces and militants engaged in running gunbattles, the U.S. military said. Four Iraqis were killed and five were wounded, said Ahmed Jaddo, a hospital official. The military said U.S. soldiers returned fire at insurgents and destroyed the house they were in, while a U.S. warplane flattened another house with a 500-pound bomb.
Associated Press
Relatives and friends of Filipino hostage Angelo dela Cruz in the northern Philippines cheer news on his release Tuesday.
Angelo dela Cruz enjoys a beer and a traditional Iraqi chicken dish at the Philippines Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, on Tuesday.
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