The British embassy in Baghdad says the body of a Western woman has been found in Falluja but says it cannot confirm whether it was that of kidnapped aid worker Margaret Hassan. "We are urgently seeking clarification of the identity of the body," the official said. Hassan, 59, was kidnapped on October 19 as she was being driven to work in Baghdad, where she worked as director of the Australian operation of aid organisation Care International. It has never been clear who seized Hassan or where she was held. A video released to Arabic news channel Al Jazeera last week showed a hooded figure shooting a blindfolded woman in the head. Hassan's family, who said on Tuesday she was probably dead, have appealed to the kidnappers to reveal the location of her body.
The Times reported on its website (www.timesonline.co.uk) on Thursday that a mutilated corpse of a Western woman found by U.S. marines in Falluja was being DNA tested to see if it was the remains of Hassan. The Times reported that the disembowelled body, with its hands and lower legs cut off, had been found in west Falluja on Sunday. It said a female marine who photographed the body said her unit was "80 percent" convinced it was Hassan. Australian Prime Minister John Howard retracted his statement that the body found appeared to be that of Hassan. "The body has not been returned by those who killed her," Howard told reporters when questioned further on the issue before leaving for Chile and a meeting of leaders of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. Earlier in the day Howard had told parliament that a body found in Falluja by the U.S. military on Sunday appeared "to have been Margaret's". |