Manila refuses to rush forward troop withdrawal

The Philippines today refused to withdraw its troops from Iraq sooner than their scheduled August 20 departure despite a threat by insurgents to behead a Filipino hostage unless they pulled out this month.

The group that snatched Angelo dela Cruz, 46, near Fallujah on Wednesday had given the Philippines until 8pm BST today to agree to withdraw by July 20 its 51 soldiers and police, who are on a humanitarian mission.

“In line with our commitment to the free people of Iraq, we reiterate our plan to return our humanitarian contingent as scheduled on August 20, 2004,” Foreign Secretary Delia Albert told reporters after an emergency Cabinet meeting on the hostage crisis.

Albert said negotiations for dela Cruz’s release were continuing through “formal and informal channels,” adding: “We are hopeful that with the continued support and prayers of the people, we will hurdle this crisis.”

Dela Cruz’s wife and brother will be flown to Iraq “in order to be closer to the developments on the ground”, Albert said.

Some government officials in Manila said last night that dela Cruz had been released. But the claims were quickly denied by the militant group, the Islamic Army of Iraq-Khalid bin al-Waleed Brigade, in a message broadcast by Arab TV Al-Jazeera, in which it gave the Philippines 24 hours to respond to the demand for a July 20 pullout.

A senior government official told The Associated Press that the militants may have been upset by the premature reports of dela Cruz’s release and backed out from a reported plan to release him early today.

He said the Filipino truck driver may now be in the custody of another cell of the same group of militants that seized him.

Government negotiators were trying to establish contact with the kidnappers using a wide array of possible mediators, he said, including help from Pakistani officials in Baghdad who successfully secured the release of one of their nationals.

According to the official, the government ruled out the early withdrawal of troops because of possible repercussions it may have on its close relationship with Washington.