Philippine peacekeepers to leave Iraq

BAGHDAD — The Philippines confirmed yesterday it would withdraw its small peacekeeping contingent from Iraq on Aug. 20, as planned, but it was not clear if the announcement had saved the life of a Filipino being held hostage in Iraq.

Government officials said truck driver Angelo dela Cruz had been released, but the Arab TV station Al Jazeera said it had received a message from the militants denying that.

Meanwhile, Bulgaria expressed hope that two Bulgarian truck drivers also kidnapped by militants here were still alive. Jordanian militant Abu Musab Zarqawi’s Tawhid and Jihad group threatened to kill them if the United States did not release all Iraqi detainees — an ultimatum that has expired.

President Bush telephoned Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov yesterday. He offered to assist but refused to negotiate with terrorists, the White House said. Mr. Parvanov affirmed Bulgaria’s strong commitment to Iraq.

A Pakistani truck driver who returned home after being held hostage in Iraq said yesterday he watched as three fellow captives were beheaded. Amjad Hafeez, 26, said the two foreigners were “English-speaking people” who were crying, weeping and begging for their lives. He said they were killed June 27.

The Philippine government made no connection between the announcement about its troops and Mr. dela Cruz’s reported release. But if the release were confirmed, it would appear the statement by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s administration had satisfied his captors.

The Islamic Army of Iraq-Khalid bin al-Waleed Brigade said in a statement carried by Qatar-based Al Jazeera television that it would give the Philippine government 24 hours to ensure its sincerity, but did not elaborate.

It said the Philippines must pull out its troops by July 20, a month before the scheduled withdrawal. Until then, the captors said, Mr. dela Cruz would “be treated as a prisoner of war, in accordance with Islamic precepts.”

Iraqi militants have repeatedly used terrorist attacks to try to force governments to withdraw from the U.S.-led occupation force.

In March, a series of terrorist bombings on commuter trains in Madrid shortly before national elections was believed to have contributed to a victory by the Socialists, who had campaigned on a platform of withdrawing Spanish troops from Iraq. New Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero pulled out the troops soon after taking office.

Militants also tried to pressure South Korea by kidnapping one of its citizens in Iraq and demanding the Asian country call off plans to deploy 3,000 troops beginning in August. South Korea refused, and the captive was beheaded last month.

The men who snatched Mr. dela Cruz near the restive Sunni Triangle city of Fallujah on Wednesday said they would kill him unless Manila pulled out its 51-member force within three days. The deadline was hours away late yesterday, when the Philippine government announced his release.

“While this man is still not in our hands, he will be brought to a hotel in Baghdad, where he will be turned over to our people,” said Labor Secretary Patricia Santo Tomas, who was staying with the hostage’s family in a hotel at the former Clark Air Base.

“He is in safe hands,” added National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales.

Mrs. Santo Tomas said Mrs. Arroyo had called Mr. dela Cruz’s wife to relay the news. Jubilation broke out at the family home in northern Pampanga province.

“I feel so relieved,” said Mr. dela Cruz’s brother, Jessie. “We are very happy. Our village is celebrating.”

The withdrawal announcement appeared to be deliberately ambiguous, reflecting the fine line that the Philippines was walking to obtain Mr. dela Cruz’s release while remaining one of Washington’s closest supporters.

It left open the prospect that Philippine troops could return under U.N. auspices, although a high-ranking official said any further deployment would be the subject of government discussions that would start from scratch. Before the kidnapping, the Philippines had been discussing whether to extend the peacekeeping mandate.

“Our humanitarian contingent is scheduled to return on Aug. 20,” presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye said. “Our future actions shall be guided by the U.N. Security Council decision as embodied in Resolution 1546, which defines the role of the U.N. and its member states in the future of Iraq.”

Resolution 1546 covered the recent transfer of power to Iraq’s interim government. It specifies that Iraq can request “the continued presence of the multinational force and setting out its tasks.”

The pullout decision is a symbolic blow to the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, but it doesn’t affect the more crucial Philippine contingent — the 4,000 or so civilian workers at U.S. camps around Iraq, who would be difficult to replace. Mrs. Arroyo has frozen any further worker deployments.

A former U.S. colony, the Philippines has maintained close ties with Washington even after the closing of military bases there in the early 1990s. With Muslim and communist insurgencies of its own, the country has hosted major counterterrorism training for its troops by U.S. forces, and another round is scheduled to start late this month.

In the continuing violence in Iraq yesterday, U.S. Marines pummeled guerrillas taking cover at a taxi stand in a stronghold of support for Saddam Hussein’s ousted regime, killing three and wounding five others, military and hospital officials said.

The Marines came under fire in Ramadi, part of the Sunni Triangle, and the Americans counterattacked, blasting the stand into a twisted pile of molten metal.

North of the capital, insurgents blew up three liquor stores in Baqouba, prompting concern that Islamic militants may be trying to impose their strict interpretation of Islam there, witnesses said. The blasts killed a passing taxi driver.

Also yesterday, saboteurs attacked a natural-gas pipeline that runs from the oil-rich northern city of Kirkuk to a power station, an official with the North Oil Co. said.

The attack could cut power supplies even as Iraq sizzles in summer temperatures topping 110 degrees, but it wasn’t clear how severe cutbacks would be.

In Kirkuk in the north, insurgents slashed the throat of a translator working for American forces, the latest of a series of assaults on professionals supporting the multinational forces here.

• Paul Alexander reported from Manila.