Militants holding a Filipino truck driver hostage in Iraq gave the Philippines another 48 hours to agree to withdraw its troops before they killed him, a minister said in Manila.
They threatened to behead Mr Angelo de la Cruz, who was abducted last week while delivering fuel from Saudi Arabia to Baghdad, if Manila did not agree to withdraw its forces from Iraq by July 20th.
"I think there are now new signals that the extension of the deadline has been given another 48-hour life," Labour Secretary Patricia Sto Tomas said in a television interview today.
It was not clear how Filipino officials had learnt of the deadline's extension.
Yesterday, Foreign Affairs Secretary Delia Albert said there was no change in plans to withdraw its 51 humanitarian troops on August 20th, prompting an angry response from Mr De la Cruz's relatives and friends who held vigils and prayed before a previous deadline at 8 p.m. last night.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, a staunch ally of the United States, is facing heavy pressure to save Mr De la Cruz, who was abducted near the Iraqi town of Falluja.
He is a native of her home province. At least 4,000 Philippine civilianswork in Iraq, many employed by contractors and working in US military bases.