Iraq rebels release Filipino hostage

The kidnappers of Filipino Angelo de la Cruz dropped him at the United Arab Emirates embassy in Baghdad on Tuesday morning. He was taken to the Philippine embassy, where he looked tired and occasionally brushed away tears, television pictures showed. De la Cruz spoke to Arroyo and his wife by telephone.

Arroyo said she decided to withdraw a small military contingent early because of the importance of looking after some eight million Filipino workers abroad. ‘‘A father of eight, Angelo has become a Filipino Everyman, a symbol of the hardworking Filipino seeking hope and opportunity,’’ she said.

Militants threatening to behead de la Cruz had set a July 20 deadline for Philippine troops to leave Iraq. They had been previously due to depart on August 20.

A source at the UAE embassy quoted de la Cruz as saying the kidnappers told him to go inside the building and ask for help. ‘‘We were really surprised to see him here,’’ the source said.

De la Cruz’s relatives at his home in Buenavista, 90 km north of Manila, greeted the news with cheers and tears. ‘‘Thank you for saving Angelo to beloved Gloria and God Almighty…Thank you, Philippines,’’ said his sister Nelia.

De la Cruz told his wife Arsenia in a televised telephone call that he was not mistreated. Arsenia, who had spent an anxious week in the Jordanian capital Amman, thanked the kidnappers for not harming her husband.

Meanwhile, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, an Islamic militant with suspected ties to Al Qaeda, warned Japan it should now do the same and pull its troops out of Iraq or face attacks.

Zarqawi said in a statement posted on an Islamist website that Japan now should do the same as the Philippines. ‘‘This message is directed to the Japanese government. Do what the Philippines has done because no one else can help you…Your fate will be like that of the Americans and others,’’ read the statement.

A member of the regional council of Basra and two bodyguards were assassinated on Tuesday, a council spokesman said.

He said Hazim Tawfiq al-Anachi was shot dead at a checkpoint in the city. ‘‘At the checkpoint, there were some people wearing police uniforms who asked the driver to stop. Then they opened fire,’’ the spokesman said.

Kidnappers have seized dozens of foreigners since April to press demands for foreign troops to leave, to deter foreigners from working with US forces or to extract ransoms. Many hostages have been freed, including an Egyptian released on Monday, but at least four have been killed.

Egyptian driver Mohammed al-Gharabawi was freed after the Saudi firm he worked for met kidnappers’ demands by promising to stop doing work in Iraq.

‘‘In the beginning, in the first few days, I was threatened,’’ Gharabawi said at the Egyptian embassy in Baghdad late on Monday. ‘‘It was a real threat to me; they were shouting at me and pushing me with guns.’’

A roadside bomb exploded near the restive town of Baquba north of Baghdad, killing four Iraqi civilians in a minivan, a survivor of the attack and hospital officials said. —(Reuters)