Bulgaria, Philippines Stand Firm in Refusal to Deal on Hostages

A standoff intensified Sunday between two nations supporting U.S. efforts in Iraq and militants holding a Filipino and two Bulgarians hostage.

Officials in the Philippines and Bulgaria expressed hope that the hostages would be freed despite the nations’ refusal to meet the abductors’ demands, which include withdrawing troops. The Philippines and Bulgaria contribute small military contingents to the U.S.-led forces here.

Fears for the life of Philippine truck driver Angelo de la Cruz intensified after the Manila government said it would stick to its Aug. 20 date for completing its military commitment in Iraq. The little-known extremist group holding the father of eight insisted Saturday that De la Cruz would be killed if the 51-member Philippine contingent was not withdrawn by July 20.

“In line with our commitment to the free people of Iraq, we reiterate our plan to return our humanitarian contingent as scheduled on August 20, 2004,” Philippine Foreign Secretary Delia Domingo-Albert told reporters in Manila.

Her description of the forces appeared aimed at convincing the hostage-takers that Philippine troops in Iraq were engaged in works unrelated to aiding the U.S. military.

She made no mention of the 4,000-plus Philippine civilians providing janitorial, catering, construction and maintenance services to the 160,000 foreign soldiers in Iraq.

As diplomats, family members and colleagues awaited word of the captives’ fate Sunday, a roadside bomb killed one U.S. soldier from Task Force Olympia and an Iraqi passerby near Mosul in northern Iraq.

A statement from U.S. Central Command said a vehicle sped toward the task force convoy while the wounded soldier was being treated and fired on the patrol. Soldiers returned fire and killed the driver, the statement said.

Another roadside bomb detonated near Samarra later in the day, killing two U.S. soldiers of the 13th Corps Support Command and wounding three others in their convoy. Few details on the incident were available.

In Kirkuk, also in the north, an Iraqi interpreter for the coalition forces was found dead with his throat slit.

In Manila, Foreign Secretary Domingo-Albert said negotiations were underway through “formal and informal channels” to win the release of De la Cruz, 46.

Hours after the government rejected the militants’ demand, the abductors extended the Sunday deadline for De la Cruz by two days, a Philippines official said early today.

“There are good signals that the extension of the deadline has been given another 48 hours,” Labor Secretary Patricia Santo Thomas told a TV station based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. She was on the way to Baghdad with De la Cruz’s wife and brother.

A Muslim cleric made a televised appeal last week to the kidnappers, who have identified themselves as the Iraqi Islamic Army-Khaled bin Waleed Corps, to release De la Cruz, citing humanitarian reasons.

De la Cruz was shown pleading for his life in a videotape broadcast Saturday by Al Jazeera satellite television.

The Arabic-language channel carried footage Thursday of the two Bulgarians at the feet of their armed and masked captors, identified as belonging to Jamaat al Tawhid wal Jihad, headed by Palestinian-Jordanian militant Abu Musab Zarqawi.

The group has threatened to kill the two men if the multinational forces failed to release all Iraqis who were detained during the 15-month occupation.

In the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, Foreign Minister Solomon Pasi assured his countrymen that truck drivers Georgi Lazov, 30, and Ivailo Kepov, 32, were alive -- at least as late as Saturday night.

“I can confirm the information, which has been received three hours ago, that our compatriots are alive,” Pasi said at a news briefing, declining to give details about the source of the report.

Zarqawi’s group claimed responsibility for beheading American businessman Nicholas Berg in May and South Korean interpreter Kim Sun Il last month, as well as for a string of coordinated attacks that have killed hundreds, mostly Iraqis.

The militants claimed in a report on their website Sunday that they were behind an attack Thursday in Samarra, 60 miles northwest of Baghdad, that killed five U.S. troops.

In demonstrations Sunday for and against jailed former President Saddam Hussein, about 100 supporters in Baqubah, north of Baghdad, chanted allegiance to the deposed leader, and opponents hanged and burned his effigy in the capital.

Gunmen attacked a store in Baghdad selling alcohol. Last week, conservative Muslims shot up three liquor stores in Baqubah.

Attacks by insurgents have continued since the June 28 hand-over of sovereignty from the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority to the interim Iraqi government. But the number of attacks has decreased.