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... |