BAGHDAD, Iraq – Militants took six foreign truck drivers hostage and threatened Wednesday to behead them unless their company ends its business in Iraq, and their countries – India, Egypt and Kenya – pull all their citizens out.
The threat came two days after the Philippines withdrew its 51-troop contingent from Iraq, giving in to the demands of militants holding a Filipino truck driver. The driver, Angelo dela Cruz, was released Tuesday.
Militants also launched a rocket attack on a Baghdad hospital Wednesday, killing two people, and set off a car bomb in the capital that killed four.
In the city of Ramadi west of Baghdad, Marines engaged in an hours long gunbattle with insurgents. Hospital officials said five Iraqis were killed, many when U.S. forces bombed a house.
The threat to behead the hostages – and separate warnings against Bulgarian, Polish and Japanese troops – is the latest development in a violent campaign to scare off foreigners, who play a vital role in supporting the new U.S.-backed government and in the reconstruction of Iraq.
Iraqi and U.S. officials had warned of a potential surge in threats and hostage-taking when the Philippines withdrew its troops.
A militant group calling itself the Holders of the Black Banners, announced Wednesday it had taken two Kenyans, three Indians and an Egyptian hostage, and said it would behead a captive every 72 hours beginning Saturday night if their countries do not announce their intentions to withdraw troops and citizens from Iraq.
None of those countries is part of the 160,000-member U.S.-led coalition. However, interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi appealed last week to India and Egypt to send in troops.
“We have warned all the countries, companies, businessmen and truck drivers that those who deal with American cowboy occupiers will be targeted by the fires of the Mujahedeen,” read a statement from the group. “Here you are once again transporting goods, weapons and military equipment that backs the U.S. Army.”
Associated Press
Insurgents appear in front of six hostages in Iraq in a photo released Wednesday.
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