IRAQ: A militant group led by suspected al-Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi killed a Bulgarian hostage and vowed to execute a second Bulgarian it was holding within 24 hours, Al Jazeera television said yesterday.
The Qatar-based channel said the group had issued a video tape of the execution but did not broadcast it.
The Arabic satellite television station said the group had issued a video tape of the execution but did not broadcast it.
Al Jazeera showed footage, however, of three masked men with one of the Bulgarians kneeling before them in a blindfold and orange jumpsuit.
Zarqawi's group threatened last Thursday to kill the Bulgarians within 24 hours unless the US released imprisoned Iraqis.
Bulgaria had said earlier yesterday the two hostages, both truck drivers, were still alive but that concerns for their rescue were mounting. Sofia had appealed to the militants to release Georgi Lazov (30) and Ivailo Kepov (32) - who were transporting cars from Bulgaria to Mosul in northern Iraq when they disappeared on June 27th - saying they were simple workers, not political people.
The group has already claimed responsibility for the beheading of an American and a South Korean in Iraq.
Bulgaria has 470 troops based in the southern Iraqi city of Karbala as part of US-led forces and said they will stay as long as they are needed.
The Iraqi interim government and the United States had earlier urged their allies to resist demands from kidnappers holding foreign hostages in Iraq.
The captors of a Filipino made no public response to confused signals from Manila over whether it intends to comply with their demands to bring its troops home early from Iraq.
"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 Mr Scott McClellan.
Washington was seeking clarification from Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's government, said McClellan.
Philippine Deputy Foreign Minister Mr 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 Filipino truck driver Angelo de la Cruz.
Meanwhile, 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 said it would tackle criminals as well as die-hard Saddam supporters and foreign Islamic militants. - (Reuters)