US urges Philippines not to buckle over Iraq hostage

1.00pm - By DEAN YATES

BAGHDAD - The White House urged the Philippines on Tuesday not to bow to militants' demands over a hostage and withdraw its troops from Iraq before schedule.

An Iraqi official also warned against giving in to kidnappers amid deepening confusion over whether Manila intended to bring its troops home early from Iraq to save Filipino truck driver Angelo de la Cruz, threatened with death by militants.

"We believe that a decision by the Philippine government to withdraw their 51 troops ahead of schedule (on August 20) would send the wrong signal to terrorists," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.

Washington was seeking clarification from Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's government, said McClellan.

Philippine Deputy Foreign Minister Rafael Seguis told Al Jazeera on Monday Manila was offering to withdraw its forces as soon as possible from Iraq to save 46-year-old de la Cruz.

However, later statements from officials in Manila did not clarify whether Manila planned to pull out its troops by a July 20 deadline set by the militant Islamic Army in Iraq group.

The militants had extended an execution deadline for de la Cruz to Monday night and had moved him "to the place of implementing the punishment", Al Jazeera said.

Hostage standoffs in the past few months have posed a major test for Iraq's new interim government, Washington and its allies with troops in the country.

Two Bulgarians are also under threat of death by captors and Al-Jazeera has just announced that militant group has executed one of the Bulgarian hostages it is holding.

Militants have seized dozens of foreigners in Iraq since April to press demands for foreign troops to leave. Many hostages have been freed but at least three have been killed, including an American and a South Korean.

Spain withdrew its troops from Iraq after suspected al Qaeda-linked militants attacked packed Madrid commuter trains in March, killing 191 people, in what they said was revenge for Spanish involvement with US-led forces. Honduras and the Dominican Republic later cut short their forces' stay in Iraq.

Mowaffaq Abboud, an adviser to Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari, said the interim government felt it was unwise to give in to kidnappers.

"This would encourage the terrorists to continue these practices," he said.

A senior Bush administration official said the US-led coalition was holding together in Iraq, citing a commitment by Australia to increase its number of troops and an El Salvadoran proposal to extend its troop presence in Iraq for up to a year.

In the latest violence in the country, Iraqi National Guards fought a gunbattle with guerrillas in a car who had fired on their patrol in the northern city of Mosul.

An Iraqi officer said one guard and two guerrillas were killed. Nine guards were wounded.

Iraq's Olympic head Ahmed al-Samarrai said he survived an assassination attempt when attackers threw grenades and fired automatic weapons at his car in Baghdad after a roadside bomb failed to kill him.

He said he was unhurt in Monday's attack, but one of his guards was wounded.

Iraq is sending a small team to the Olympic Games in Athens next month.

Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's interim government remains dependent on 160,000 mostly American foreign troops while it builds up its own forces.

In Brussels, Zebari urged Nato to speed up promised training for Iraqi forces and to provide border security support and military equipment.

In Baghdad, police carried out one of their biggest raids on criminals since Saddam Hussein was ousted by US-led forces last year, arresting more than 500 people in a crackdown that netted suspected drug dealers and arms traders.

The government has vowed to tackle criminals as well as die-hard Saddam supporters and foreign Islamic militants that Allawi and Washington blame for guerrilla attacks.

The raid followed a similar operation in the Iraqi capital on Monday in which scores were detained.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq