Teufelswacht
Joined: 06 Sep 2004
Location: Land Of The Not Quite Right
|
 Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2005 4:12 am Post subject: Iraq. Aussie hostage freed by U.S. and Iraqi forces. |
 |
|
| Quote: |
Iraqi, U.S. Forces Free Australian Hostage
By PATRICK QUINN, Associated Press Writer 20 minutes ago
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi troops, backed by U.S. forces, freed an Australian hostage after six weeks in captivity, officials said Wednesday. The release came as a suicide bomber dressed in an Iraqi army uniform blew himself up in a mess hall north of Baghdad, killing at least 25 Iraqi soldiers and injuring 27.
No details were available on the operation in Baghdad that led to the release of Douglas Wood, a 64-year-old engineer who lives in Alamo, Calif. He was abducted in late April by a militant group calling itself the Shura Council of the Mujahedeen of
Iraq.
The Australian government refused to bend to the kidnappers' demands that its 1,400 troops be withdrawn from Iraq. It sent diplomats, police and military personnel to Baghdad to seek his release.
"I am delighted to inform the House that the Australian hostage in Iraq, Mr. Douglas Wood, is safe," Prime Minister John Howard told Parliament in Canberra, Australia.
"Mr. Wood was recovered a short while ago in Baghdad in a military operation that I am told was conducted by Iraqi forces in cooperation in a general way with force elements of the United States," Howard said.
Howard told reporters an Iraqi military unit rescued Wood but the full details of how it occurred were not yet known.
.........
|
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050615/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq |
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
