Militants took six foreign truck drivers hostage and threatened Wednesday to behead them unless their company ends its business in Iraq and their countries–India, Egypt and Kenya–pull all their citizens out.
The threat came as militants launched a rocket attack on a Baghdad hospital, killing two people, and set off a car bomb in the capital that killed four.
The threat to behead the hostages is the latest development in a violent campaign to scare off foreigners.
Iraqi and U.S. officials had warned of a potential surge in threats and hostage-taking when the Philippines withdrew its
51-troop contingent from Iraq on Monday, giving in to the demands of militants holding a Filipino truck driver. The driver, Angelo de la Cruz, was released Tuesday.
U.S. toll hits 900
BAGHDAD A roadside bomb exploded north of Baghdad early Wednesday, killing one U.S. 1st Infantry Division soldier and bringing to 900 the number of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq since the beginning of military operations in March 2003. The most recent soldier killed was on patrol in a Bradley fighting vehicle in Duluiyah when the bomb detonated.
