BAGHDAD, 17 July 2004 — The Philippines began pulling out its troops from Iraq yesterday in the face of opposition from its allies.
In a new message to militants holding Angelo dela Cruz, Philippine Foreign Secretary Delia Albert said 11 soldiers were leaving for home, reducing troop strength to 32. The rest would follow shortly.
All Philippine troops had been scheduled to leave on Aug. 20, but that date was brought forward to satisfy militants threatening to behead dela Cruz.
The pullout came despite warnings from the United States and Australia that the Philippines was sending the wrong signal to terrorists. On Thursday, Iraq’s interim prime minister urged Manila to hold firm as he announced the formation of a domestic spy agency to “annihilate” the insurgents launching daily attacks.
Thailand also announced yesterday it had started the withdrawal of its 451 troops from the country at the end of their deployment, ignoring an appeal by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to delay the pullout beyond the end of September.
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.
A group led by Zarqawi claimed the killing of the governor of the northern city of Mosul in an ambush on Wednesday.
“Thanks to God, your brothers in the military wing of Tawhid wal Jihad were able to get the head of the apostate traitor, the governor of Mosul, in an ambush,” said the statement, dated July 14 and posted on a website.
Gov. Osama Kashmoula was the most senior official to be assassinated in Iraq since May, when a suicide bomber killed the head of Iraq’s now-defunct Governing Council.
In fresh violence, a roadside bomb killed one Iraqi civilian near Baiji, north of Baghdad, witnesses said.
In Baghdad, a US soldier was wounded when a car bomb was detonated beside an American patrol, the US Army said.
Britain’s military said three of its soldiers were lightly wounded in a mortar attack in Basra, 550 km south of Baghdad.
Scores of people have been killed in suicide bombings, shootings, car bombs and roadside assaults since the transfer of sovereignty from US occupation authority to the interim government on June 28.
In another development, deputy commander for detainee operations Gen. Jeffrey Miller said yesterday representatives of Iraq’s caretaker government will sit on a board that is reviewing the status of the estimated 5,200 detainees held by US-led forces in the country.
“What we want to do is recognize the enormous importance of the partnership with the interim Iraqi government,” Miller said.
“So we have asked the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Human Rights and the multinational forces in Iraq to sit on a board that reviews the detainee cases for release.”
— Additional input from agencies
