Filipino hostage freed, says UAE embassy

Filipino lorry driver Angelo dela Cruz, held hostage in Iraq for nearly two weeks, has been freed, a United Arab Emirates embassy official says.

The reports come as the last members of the Philippines’ small peacekeeping force in Iraq were on their way home today as their government tried to get militants there to release dela Cruz, while the Iraqi government warned that the pullout would encourage terrorists.

The Filipinos were in Kuwait after driving across the border from Iraq, and were scheduled to board flights home on today and tomorrow.

The last members of what had been a 51-member force yesterday paid an “exit call” on the new Polish commander at their base in Hillah, south of Baghdad, lowered the Philippine flag at their quarters and then departed.

Militants who snatched Filipino truck driver Angelo dela Cruz on July 7 and threatened to behead him said they would release him once all his country’s troops were out of Iraq.

Philippine diplomats in Iraq were awaiting word on dela Cruz from the kidnappers’ emissaries, a Philippine official said.

“We have fulfilled our commitment, and so it’s their turn to fulfil their promise. We are waiting,” the official said on condition of anonymity.