The body of the only American among four Christian peace activists kidnapped late last year was found near a west Baghdad railway line with gunshots to his head and chest, Iraqi police said yesterday.
Tom Fox, 54, from Clear Brook, Virginia, was the fifth American hostage killed in Iraq. There was no immediate word on his fellow hostages, a Briton and two Canadians.
The US command in Baghdad confirmed that Fox's body was picked up by US forces on Thursday evening.
An Iraqi police patrol was also at the scene, said Falah al-Mohammedawi, an official with the Interior Ministry, which oversees police. He said Fox was found with his hands tied and gunshot wounds to his head and chest. There were cuts on Fox's body and bruises on his head, he said.
The FBI verified that the body was that of Fox, and his family was notified, US State Department spokesman Noel Clay said in Washington.
Word of Fox's killing came as four people -- including an Iraqi journalist and a human rights activist -- died in drive-by shootings yesterday, police said.
Amjad Hamid, who was in charge of educational programs at Iraqiya state television, was killed with his driver in Khadra, a mostly Sunni neighborhood of Baghdad, the channel said.
Waad Jabar, who worked for an Iraqi rights group, was gunned down with his bodyguard in Hawija, 240km north of Baghdad, police said.
US and Iraqi forces, meanwhile, conducted a series of raids in Baghdad and north of the capital, arresting 20 suspected insurgents early yesterday.
Four suspects were detained at a west Baghdad mosque identified by the US military as a possible al-Qaeda in Iraq safe haven. Four others were captured at other sites in the same area, the US military said in a statement. The eight were suspected of kidnapping, manufacturing car bombs and financing and supporting terrorists, the statement said.
A dozen more suspects were captured in Tikrit, former president Saddam Hussein's ancestral hometown 130km north of Baghdad, the military said. They were believed to be part of an insurgent cell responsible for the killing of dozens of Narhwan-area residents after the Feb. 22 bombing of a revered Shiite shrine in Samarra that unleashed a torrent of sectarian killing.
Also see story:
Bush highlights Iraqi bomb menace
GEARING UP: An invasion would be difficult and would strain China’s forces, but it has conducted large-scale training supporting an invasion scenario, the report said China increased its military pressure on Taiwan last year and took other steps in preparation for a potential invasion, an annual report published by the US Department of Defense on Wednesday showed. “Throughout 2023, Beijing continued to erode longstanding norms in and around Taiwan by employing a range of pressure tactics against Taiwan,” the report said, which is titled “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China (PRC) 2024.” The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) “is preparing for a contingency to unify Taiwan with the PRC by force, if perceived as necessary by Beijing, while simultaneously deterring, delaying or denying
‘ONE BRIDGE’: The US president-elect met with Akie Abe on Dec. 15 in Florida and the two discussed a potential Taiwan-China conflict’s implications for world peace US president-elect Donald Trump has described Taiwan as “a major issue for world peace” during a meeting with Akie Abe, the widow of late Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, Japanese newspaper the Yomiuri Shimbun quoted sources as saying in a report yesterday. Trump met with Akie Abe on Dec. 15 at the Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, where the two discussed the Russo-Ukrainian war and the situation in the Taiwan Strait. During the meeting, Trump spoke on the implications for world peace of a potential Taiwan-China conflict, which “indicated his administration’s stance of placing importance on dealing with the situation in
QUICK LOOK: The amendments include stricter recall requirements and Constitutional Court procedures, as well as a big increase in local governments’ budgets Portions of controversial amendments to tighten requirements for recalling officials and Constitutional Court procedures were passed by opposition lawmakers yesterday following clashes between lawmakers in the morning, as Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members tried to block Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators from entering the chamber. Parts of the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) and Constitutional Court Procedure Act (憲法訴訟法) passed the third reading yesterday. The legislature was still voting on various amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) as of press time last night, after the session was extended to midnight. Amendments to Article 4
ALLIANCE: Washington continues to implement its policy of normalizing arms sales to Taiwan and helps enhance its defense, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said US President Joe Biden on Friday agreed to provide US$571.3 million in defense support for Taiwan, the White House said, while the US State Department approved the potential sale of US$265 million in military equipment. Biden had delegated to the secretary of state the authority “to direct the drawdown of up to US$571.3 million in defense articles and services of the Department of Defense, and military education and training, to provide assistance to Taiwan,” the White House said in a statement. However, it did not provide specific details about this latest package, which was the third of its kind to
RSS