A headless body dressed in an orange jumpsuit has been found by Iraqi police in the Tigris River and handed over to U.S. occupation forces, a U.S. military spokeswoman confirmed Thursday.
It was not clear whether the body was that of a Bulgarian hostage executed by his captors earlier this week. A deadline for the threatened execution of a second Bulgarian hostage passed Wednesday night.
The body was found near Baiji, some 170 kilometers north of Baghdad, Wednesday night. "The body had been decapitated. It was dressed in an orange jumpsuit," the spokeswoman conveyed.
In another development, the captors of a Filipino truck driver hostage said they would release him when the last Filipino soldier quits Iraq, which should take place by the end of the month, according to a statement read Thursday on Al-Jazeera.
The statement came just an hour after the Qatar-based TV showed a video of the captive, Angelo dela Cruz, saying he was coming home soon and thanking his government for agreeing to withdraw forces from the occupied country.
In the video, dela Cruz was no longer wearing the bright orange garment he had worn previously. Dela Cruz told his family not to worry about him, pointing out that he had changed clothing, an apparent sign that he was no longer under threat of execution. "Wait for me, I'm coming back to you," he said.
Meanwhile, gunmen opened fire Thursday on a car belonging to Iraq's interim foreign minister, killing one official and injuring two others, an Iraqi National Guard official said. According to the AP, Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari was not in the vehicle at the time.
The attack on the two-car convoy occurred at about 7 p.m., about 100 kilometers south of the northern city of Kirkuk. "There were five Foreign Ministry officials in the car," said Brig. Anwar Mohammed Ahmed of the Iraqi National Guard in Kirkuk.
Ahmed said one of the officials was killed when an Opel sedan sped up and opened fire. Two others were wounded. (Albawaba.com)
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