Australian hostage released in Iraq

Australian Prime Minister John Howard has announced that an Australian held hostage for four weeks in Iraq has been freed in a military operation by Iraqi forces.

“I am delighted to inform the House that the Australian hostage in Iraq, Mr Douglas Wood, is safe,” Howard told parliament in Canberra.

“Mr Wood was recovered a short while ago in Baghdad in a military operation I am told was conducted by Iraqi forces in co-operation in a general way with force elements of the US,” Howard said.