Posted on 07/15/2004 10:50:43 AM PDT by TexKat
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A headless corpse dressed in an orange jumpsuit has been found by Iraqi police in the Tigris River and handed over to U.S. forces, but it has not yet been identified, a U.S. military spokeswoman said Thursday.
She said it was not known whether the body was that of a Bulgarian hostage killed by his captors earlier this week. A deadline for the threatened execution of a second Bulgarian hostage passed last night without news.
The body was found near Baiji, 112 miles north of Baghdad, Wednesday night.
"The body had been decapitated. It was dressed in an orange jumpsuit," the spokeswoman said.
Videotapes of foreign hostages in Iraq have often shown them wearing orange jumpsuits, which are typical of U.S. jails and associated around the world with images of Muslims detained at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
A diplomat at the Bulgarian Embassy in Baghdad said he was aware that a body had been discovered, but it was not known whether it was one of the captured Bulgarians.
In Sofia, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Solomon Passy said the government had asked for an urgent investigation to identify the body.
"At this moment we do not have a confirmation whether it is one of our compatriots," he told Bulgarian television.
Kidnappers linked to al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said a week ago they had captured Bulgarian truck drivers Georgi Lazov, 30, and Ivailo Kepov, 32, and would kill them unless U.S.-led forces released Iraqi prisoners.
Earlier this week Arabic satellite television station Al Jazeera said it had received a videotape showing the decapitation of one of the Bulgarians.
The two Bulgarians were transporting cars to the city of Mosul when they disappeared on June 27. Bulgaria said they were workers, not political people.
Bulgaria has held its ground on policy, saying its 470 troops in Iraq will stay as long as they are needed.
Several foreigners are missing in Iraq including a Filipino driver and an Egyptian.
Ping
Remember the Saudis have refused to find Johnson's corpse. Shades of Danny Pearl.
I saw it. You beat me again TexKat.
I'm sorry knak. LOL!!!
Sad news. We knew it was just a matter of time.
Hopefully the Free Iraqis will find these murdering Islamofascists and end their reign of terror.
Sounds like a great logo for the Arab Tourism Association.
Bill O'Reilly has been all over that this week. He has contacted the Saudi embassy and others trying to see why Johnson's relatives cannot get visas to Saudi Arabia.
Perhaps this is in response to O'Reilly getting involved
That can't be true. The U.S. went in alone, didn't we? /sarcasm
Thanks again CBS, Viacom, and 60 Minutes!
Perhaps if you had allowed the military to clean up its own prison laundry quietly, these people would not now be without their heads.
God bless the family and thank Him for the Bulgarians!
Greg Palkot on FoxNews reporting on this now.
Found by Iraqi police.
Handed over to US military police, who are making efforts to ID.
Interesting if it was that filipino supposedly heading home after Phillipines agreed to pull out troops.
________________________________________________
Headless Body Found in River Near Baghdad
By JAMIE TARABAY, Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq - A decapitated body in an orange jumpsuit was discovered in the Tigris River in northern Iraq, the U.S. military said Thursday, raising fears that it belonged to a Bulgarian hostage killed the day before.
The identity of the body, discovered by Iraqi police Wednesday night northwest of the city of Beiji, 170 miles north of Baghdad, was not known, the military said.
Police turned the body over to the U.S. military for identification, and the Bulgarian government said fingerprints had been sent to Bulgaria for possible identification.
Militant groups in Iraq have taken several foreign contractors hostage, threatening to kill them if their governments did not pull their troops out or accede to other demands.
U.S. businessman Nicholas Berg and South Korean translator Kim Sun-il were wearing orange garments in videos showing their deaths.
A group affiliated with Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said Wednesday it had killed a Bulgarian hostage. Video broadcast on Al-Jazeera showed one of two Bulgarian hostages, later identified as Georgi Lazov, kneeling before three masked men.
Lazov was not wearing an orange jumpsuit in the footage shown, but the television declined to broadcast the rest of the video, which it said showed the man being killed. His body had not been recovered.
The militants also had threatened to kill a second Bulgarian hostage if its demand for the United States to release Iraqi detainees was not met.
"We know a body has been found, but it is not identified yet," Bulgarian Foreign Minister Solomon Pasi told reporters.
Speaking about the second hostage, Pasi said "the government has the duty to work on the assumption that he is alive, but the hope is diminishing with every hour."
Al-Zarqawi's group earlier claimed responsibility for beheading Berg and Kim. Berg's decapitated body was found near a highway overpass in Baghdad. Kim's body was found between Baghdad and Fallujah.
The militant group holding Filipino truck driver Angelo dela Cruz captive said they would release him when the last Filipino soldier leaves the country, which should take place by the end of the month, according to a statement read Thursday on Al-Jazeera.
Dela Cruz also appeared in a video on the Arab television station earlier, saying he was coming home soon and thanking his government for agreeing to withdraw its peacekeepers from the country.
In the video, dela Cruz was no longer wearing the bright orange garment he had worn previously. He pointed out that he had changed clothing, an apparent sign that he is no longer under threat of execution.
Ofelia Reyes, cousin of Filipino hostage Angelo dela Cruz, shows to other relatives the latest video of her brother which is being broadcast on a local television network in their hometown in Mexico, Pampanga province, northern Philippines, Thursday July 15, 2004. Relatives of dela Cruz, a Filipino truck driver kidnapped in Iraq, were cautiously optimistic Thursday after militants holding him hostage said they would release him when the last Filipino soldier leaves Iraq, according to a statement read on Al-Jazeera. The statement followed the video dela Cruz, saying he was coming home soon and thanking his government for agreeing to withdraw peacekeepers. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila
What is taking so long? They only have 52 soldiers. Better yet why not just have them dress in civvies and claim that they are out?
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