No further concessions will be made to kidnappers in Iraq after the Philippines withdrew its troops from the country in exchange for the release of a hostage, the United States state department said on Wednesday night.
The British foreign office on Thursday morning said it backed the US stance. US officials said many other countries with troops in Iraq would make similar statements as Washington attempted to create a united front against the insurgency.
The announcement was on Thursday followed by more violence erupting in Iraq as militants launched a suicide bombing attack on a police station south of Baghdad, killing five people.
At the same time, US marines battled fighters loyal to the radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in Najaf after a police station there was attacked early on Thursday.
Some fighting was said to be ongoing, and the US military said one of its helicopters had been shot down over the city. A military spokesperson said that crew members had sustained injuries but nobody had been killed in the incident.
In the southern city of Basra, militants loyal to al-Sadr threatened to attack British forces unless they freed four men detained during a raid on his party’s office on Tuesday.
”We give an ultimatum to the British forces to set free our friends, otherwise the Mahdi army will confront the British forces, enter the city and take over important government buildings,” Salam al-Maliki, a spokesperson for al-Sadr’s militia, said.
The army said it had not received a formal ultimatum, dismissing the ultimatum as ”only rhetoric”. Major Ian Clooney said the four men had been detained for further questioning.
US forces ‘united in resolve’ over kidnappings
The US state department’s announcement on kidnappings was an attempt to try and stop the spate of hostage takings in Iraq.
The interim Iraqi government said kidnappings had increased following Manila’s early withdrawal of its 51 troops last month following kidnappers’ threats to behead a captured Filipino truck driver.
In a move intended to show kidnappers that none of the 31 other countries with troops in Iraq would follow, the US vowed not to make concessions to hostage-takers.
”We are united in our resolve to make no concessions to terrorists nor succumb to terrorist threats … we understand that conceding to terrorists will only endanger all members of the multinational force, as well as other countries who are contributing to Iraqi reconstruction and humanitarian assistance,” the statement said.
Private foreign firms and employees involved in reconstruction work in Iraq have been driven away by the country’s security problems. More than 60 foreigners have been kidnapped in recent months, with a significant number of those having been killed.
The US policy statement came hours after four Jordanian hostages — three drivers and a businessman — were on Wednesday rescued from their kidnappers in a raid led by a tribal chief.
Gunmen stormed the kidnappers’ building in Falluja, forcing them to flee and freeing the four Jordanians.
The raid — in a city that has long been hostile to the US military and supportive of Saddam Hussein — was the first time local gunmen had rescued foreign hostages. The gunmen described the kidnappers as ”terrorists” and outsiders.
Two Turkish drivers were reportedly released on Wednesday because their firm had agreed to stop working in Iraq.
Five killed in police station attack
Three militants this morning attacked a police station south of Baghdad. Two opened fire at guards while the third drove an explosives-laden minibus towards the building, killing five people and wounding 27, the Iraqi interior ministry said.
The two gunmen escaped from the scene after the attack, Sabah Kadhim, an interior ministry spokesperson, said.
The attack, in the town of Mahawil, 85km from the Iraqi capital, was the latest in a spate of bombings to target police.
Militia clash with US forces in Najaf
Fierce clashes between militia and US forces in the holy city of Najaf left two people dead and eight others injured, health ministry officials said on Thursday.
The fighting, the fiercest for weeks, threatens a fragile ceasefire between the Mahdi army and Iraqi and US authorities.
US marines moved in after clashes broke out between militiamen and Iraqi police early on Thursday morning. Militants had attacked a police station in the southern city’s Revolution of 1920 Square with mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and Kalashnikov rifles.
Gunfire and explosions were still reverberating around the city later this morning.
Najaf’s governor, Adnan al-Zurufi, told the al-Jazeera television channel that the US marines had intervened ”to help the policemen protect the police stations and the city”, and warned of ”very bad consequences” if the militia did not disarm and leave.
”This issue must come to an end,” he told al-Jazeera. ”If not, there will be no choice but military operations to end the situation.”
On Tuesday, police said al-Sadr’s militia had kidnapped police officers, apparently intending to use them as bargaining tools in an attempt to force authorities to release militants being detained.
His supporters denied the accusations, saying police were provoking them by trying to arrest some of the group’s leaders.
Further north, a series of battles between Iraqi authorities and insurgents in the city of Mosul in the last 24 hours killed 14 civilians and eight insurgents, the US military said. No Iraqi or coalition forces were killed in the violence, the military added.
Iraqi authorities said 17 people had been killed and 47 wounded. – Guardian Unlimited Â