Allied forces rescue Western hostages in Iraq

BAGHDAD – US and British forces yesterday rescued three Western hostages held captive in Iraq for almost four months, amid a string of car bombings that left at least two dozen people dead.

Insurgents targeted Iraqi police and Shi’ites in a series of bombings, adding to sectarian tensions as US authorities pressured Iraqi politicians to quickly reach a deal on forming a government of national unity. Three aid workers from the Christian Peacemaker Teams – Canadians Harmeet Sooden, 32, and Jim Loney, 41, and Briton Norman Kember, 74 – were rescued in western Baghdad, US Colonel John Snow told AFP.Their US colleague Tom Fox, seized with them on November 26, was slain two weeks ago and his body found dumped in the city.”The three hostages Norman Kember, a British hostage, (and) two Canadian hostages, have been released as a result of a multi-national force operation which took place earlier today,” British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said in London.”British forces were involved in this operation.It follows weeks and weeks of very careful work by our military and coalition personnel in Iraq and many civilians as well,” Straw added.”I am delighted we now have a happy ending to this ordeal.”Coalition forces suffered no casualties in the operation, said British Wing Commander Tony Radcliffe.Their abduction was claimed by a group calling itself the Brigades of the Swords of Righteousness which threatened to kill them unless all Iraqi prisoners were released.Straw said Kember was in a “reasonable condition” and recovering in Baghdad’s top-security Green zone where the British and US embassies and the Iraqi government are based.But he said the two Canadians needed hospital treatment.Straw said he had talked with Kember’s wife Pat throughout her husband’s ordeal and had spoken to her again since his release.”It goes without saying that she is absolutely delighted, elated with this news,” he said.A Downing Street spokesman said Prime Minister Tony Blair “is delighted by the news.He is particularly pleased for those released and their families.”Christian Peacemaker Teams, in a statement, expressed joy and relief that the ordeal was over.”Our hearts are filled with joy today as we heard that Harmeet Singh Sooden, Jim Loney and Norman Kember have been safely released in Baghdad,” it said.”Our gladness today is made bittersweet by the fact that Tom is not alive to join in the celebration,” it added.”We believe that the illegal occupation of Iraq by Multinational Forces is the root cause of the insecurity which led to this kidnapping and so much pain and suffering in Iraq.The occupation must end,” the statement added.The three freed hostages last appeared in a video broadcast on pan-Arab satellite television Al-Jazeera on March 7 in which they issued a new appeal for their governments to work for their release.Fox was found handcuffed and shot dead on a rubbish dump in west Baghdad on March 9.His body had been wrapped in a blanket and stuffed in a plastic bag.At least 430 foreigners are known to have been taken hostage in Iraq since the March 2003 US-led invasion, a US diplomat said in Baghdad earlier this month.They include 41 US nationals, some of them Iraqi-Americans.Seven are still being held, including US journalist Jill Caroll, a 28-year-old freelance journalist who was on assignment for the Christian Science Monitor when she was abducted on January 7.She has since appeared in three videos broadcast on Arab television.The latest deadline set by her captors passed in late February with no word on her fate.At least 24 people were killed, mostly policemen, in a series of car bombings, security officials said.Fifteen people died, including 10 policemen, and 30 were wounded when a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden car into the Baghdad headquarters of an anti-terrorism unit.Twin attacks on police stations south of Baghdad on Wednesday left seven police dead, a day after over 100 rebels stormed a police station northeast of the capital, killing 18 police and releasing 32 prisoners.Another attack yesterday, apparently targeting security forces in a Shi’ite district of the capital, killed five Iraqis, including a police commando, and wounded 22 others, a security source said.At least three other policemen were killed and five people were wounded in car bomb attacks in the north of the city.Another car bomb attack in the centre of the capital wounded two civilians, while a policeman was killed and three wounded in a roadside bombing in Babylon, south of Baghdad.On the political front, US patience appeared to be wearing thin as Iraqi leaders remained deadlocked on forming a government of national unity three months after a general election.- Nampa-AFPThree aid workers from the Christian Peacemaker Teams – Canadians Harmeet Sooden, 32, and Jim Loney, 41, and Briton Norman Kember, 74 – were rescued in western Baghdad, US Colonel John Snow told AFP.Their US colleague Tom Fox, seized with them on November 26, was slain two weeks ago and his body found dumped in the city.”The three hostages Norman Kember, a British hostage, (and) two Canadian hostages, have been released as a result of a multi-national force operation which took place earlier today,” British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said in London.”British forces were involved in this operation.It follows weeks and weeks of very careful work by our military and coalition personnel in Iraq and many civilians as well,” Straw added.”I am delighted we now have a happy ending to this ordeal.”Coalition forces suffered no casualties in the operation, said British Wing Commander Tony Radcliffe.Their abduction was claimed by a group calling itself the Brigades of the Swords of Righteousness which threatened to kill them unless all Iraqi prisoners were released.Straw said Kember was in a “reasonable condition” and recovering in Baghdad’s top-security Green zone where the British and US embassies and the Iraqi government are based.But he said the two Canadians needed hospital treatment.Straw said he had talked with Kember’s wife Pat throughout her husband’s ordeal and had spoken to her again since his release.”It goes without saying that she is absolutely delighted, elated with this news,” he said.A Downing Street spokesman said Prime Minister Tony Blair “is delighted by the news.He is particularly pleased for those released and their families.”Christian Peacemaker Teams, in a statement, expressed joy and relief that the ordeal was over.”Our hearts are filled with joy today as we heard that Harmeet Singh Sooden, Jim Loney and Norman Kember have been safely released in Baghdad,” it said.”Our gladness today is made bittersweet by the fact that Tom is not alive to join in the celebration,” it added.”We believe that the illegal occupation of Iraq by Multinational Forces is the root cause of the insecurity which led to this kidnapping and so much pain and suffering in Iraq.The occupation must end,” the statement added.The three freed hostages last appeared in a video broadcast on pan-Arab satellite television Al-Jazeera on March 7 in which they issued a new appeal for their governments to work for their release.Fox was found handcuffed and shot dead on a rubbish dump in west Baghdad on March 9.His body had been wrapped in a blanket and stuffed in a plastic bag.At least 430 foreigners are known to have been taken hostage in Iraq since the March 2003 US-led invasion, a US diplomat said in Baghdad earlier this month.They include 41 US nationals, some of them Iraqi-Americans.Seven are still being held, including US journalist Jill Caroll, a 28-year-old freelance journalist who was on assignment for the Christian Science Monitor when she was abducted on January 7.She has since appeared in three videos broadcast on Arab television.The latest deadline set by her captors passed in late February with no word on her fate.At least 24 people were killed, mostly policemen, in a series of car bombings, security officials said.Fifteen people died, including 10 policemen, and 30 were wounded when a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden car into the Baghdad headquarters of an anti-terrorism unit.Twin attacks on police stations south of Baghdad on Wednesday left seven police dead, a day after over 100 rebels stormed a police station northeast of the capital, killing 18 police and releasing 32 prisoners.Another attack yesterday, apparently targeting security forces in a Shi’ite district of the capital, killed five Iraqis, including a police commando, and wounded 22 others, a security source said.At least three other policemen were killed and five people were wounded in car bomb attacks in the north of the city.Another car bomb attack in the centre of the capital wounded two civilians, while a policeman was killed and three wounded in a roadside bombing in Babylon, south of Baghdad.On the political front, US patience appeared to be wearing thin as Iraqi leaders remained deadlocked on forming a government of national unity three months after a general election.- Nampa-AFP