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Iraq
French Hostage Freed by Captors in Iraq
2006-01-09
A French engineer taken hostage in Iraq last month was pushed out of a car near a checkpoint in a Baghdad suburb, apparently freed by nervous captors who then fled, Iraqi police said Sunday. Bernard Planche was found Saturday night near the checkpoint in Baghdad's Abu Ghraib suburb, said Maj. Falah al-Mohammadawi.

France's presidential Elysee Palace said Planche would be received by its embassy in Baghdad and return to his home country. French President Jacques Chirac "is delighted by the happy outcome," the palace said. The president personally gave the news to Planche's daughter, Isabelle, and to his brother, Gilles.

Planche, who worked for a non-governmental organization called AACCESS, was kidnapped Dec. 5 on his way to work at a Baghdad water plant. Militants later released a video of him sitting between two armed men. Arab news channel Al-Arabiya, which broadcast an excerpt of the video, said the militants denounced the "illegal French presence" in Iraq and demanded the withdrawal of French troops from the country. France has not sent forces to Iraq. The name of a previously unknown militant group, called "Monitoring For Iraq," was shown in the corner of the footage.
Guess they've been monitoring but not paying much attention...
Posted by:Fred

#4  Iraqi and Ironhorse Soldiers rescue French hostage
BAGHDAD (Army News Service, Jan. 9, 2006) – Soldiers from 3rd Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division and Task Force Ironhorse Soldiers liberated a French hostage Jan. 7 in the Abu Ghraib area of western Baghdad.

The Iraqi Army Soldiers were searching farm houses for weapons caches while U.S. Soldiers from Task Force Ironhorse manned a checkpoint as part of an outer cordon. As the Iraqi Army closed in on their location, the kidnappers fled from a nearby farmhouse and left the French hostage.

After the kidnappers fled, the hostage, Bernard Planche, a 52-year-old employee of a French non-governmental Organization, ran up to a checkpoint manned by Soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, 22 Infantry.

Planche was first reported kidnapped in western Baghdad on Dec 5.

Iraqi Army and Coalition forces are continuing to search the area for the kidnappers, officials said.

(Editor’s note: Information provided by 4th Infantry Division Public Affairs and Task Force Ironhorse.)
Posted by: ed   2006-01-09 21:57  

#3  Such observant terrorists: not quite sure whihc nations are involved in ravishing Mother Iraq... and clearly not at all aware at which street intersections the ravishers hang out. The tens of thousands of casualties and arrests have clearly diminished the calibre of the average hard boy in that part of the world. Hurrah for Flypaper!!
Posted by: trailing wife   2006-01-09 07:51  

#2  Good info JFM thanks for sharing it.
Posted by: Sock Puppet O´ Doom   2006-01-09 03:24  

#1  Frenbch del>/del>information radio France-Info (a continuous news radio a la CNN but radio not TV) reported it as having being freed by his captors thus giving the impression that it was a humatarian move from them. It was only when you listened to the detailed bulletin (not even sure it was in the short ones) that you learned they had stumbled on an American checkpoint and in their panic they had abandonned him.
Posted by: JFM   2006-01-09 02:38  

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