Filipino Workers Barred From Going to Iraq

By MAAMOUN YOUSSEF, Associated Press Writer

CAIRO, Egypt - Armed Iraq insurgents threatened to kill a Filipino hostage if his country does not withdraw from Iraq, according to a video that aired Wednesday. The Philippines responded by barring Filipino workers from traveling to Iraq.

In the video broadcast by Pan-Arab Al-Jazeera television, three armed and masked men stood behind the seated hostage, threatening to kill him if the Philippines doesn't pull out within three days.

The group claimed to have already killed an Iraqi security guard who was accompanying the Filipino, the newscaster said. The statement gave no details of his capture. A banner on the wall behind the captors identified them as a previously unknown group called the Iraqi Islamic Army-Khaled bin al-Waleed Corps.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's order Thursday applied to contract workers. She did not refer to kidnappers' demands to withdraw Philippines troops.

"She just ordered an immediate stop to the deployment of new workers going to Iraq," Arroyo spokesman Ignacio Bunye told The Associated Press. "And then she is asking for an assessment from our Middle East team."

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