BAGHDAD, 11 July 2004 — Kidnappers of a Filipino hostage in Iraq yesterday denied Philippine government claims he had been freed and set new conditions for his release.

“The hostage will remain captive and treated as a prisoner under Islam until the last Filipino soldier leaves Iraq latest by July 20...or he will be executed,” Al-Jazeera Arabic television quoted a statement from the group as saying.

“We give the Philippine government an additional 24 hours starting from 11:00 p.m. Iraqi time on Saturday to show it is serious about withdrawing its troops.”

The statement came hours after Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo sent word to relatives of Angelo dela Cruz that he was on his way to freedom and would be taken to a Baghdad hotel, prompting a burst of celebration at his home.

A source at the Philippines Embassy in Baghdad said he had no evidence that the 46-year-old truck driver had been released, indicating that officials had been told to go somewhere in Baghdad to meet Dela Cruz, but had not found him.

“They said he would be there but he wasn’t. Who knows, in this kind of situation you hope for everything,” the source said.

The Philippines pleaded for the hostage’s life after television showed him sobbing and making a “final appeal” before an initial Saturday night deadline, saying it would withdraw its military force from Iraq within weeks.

Foreign Secretary Delia Domingo Albert said that Manila had already planned to pull out its 51-member force on Aug. 20, when its one-year mandate expires.

The statement was an apparent shift from Manila’s previous stance that it would reconsider its deployment then, but other government officials said there had been no change and were adamant the government would not give in to militants’ demands.

Death threats also hung over two Bulgarians taken hostage, although Bulgaria said it believed drivers Ivailo Kepov and Georgi Lazov were alive despite the expiry Friday night of a deadline set by kidnappers for their execution.

“We have unconfirmed information that the Bulgarian hostages are alive,” Bulgarian Foreign Minister Solomon Passy told Bulgarian media. He did not elaborate.

Meanwhile, a group that claimed kidnapping of a Lebanese-born US Marine in Iraq before freeing him after he agreed to desert promised US troops they would be treated the same way if they surrendered.

“We launch this appeal to all American soldiers who want to get out of the impasse which the arrogant US administration has put them in,” said a statement purportedly from the Islamic Retaliation Movement — Armed Resistance Wing posted on a website. “We call on them to quit the ranks of occupation forces and to surrender to (Islamist) groups, who are committed to reserve to them the same treatment accorded to soldier Wassef Ali Hassoun,” added the statement, the authenticity of which could not be verified.

On Monday, a statement attributed to the group and read on Al-Jazeera television said Hassoun, a Marine corporal, was safe and had been released. It said he had been set free and taken to a safe house because he had promised to take off his uniform. — Additional input from agencies