Iraq

Reports: Two hostages killed, but two released

BAGHDAD - A militant group claimed Monday to have killed two hostages, one a Turk and the other an Iraqi who was a longtime resident in Italy, the Arab news network Al-Jazeera reported. Two abducted Indonesian women, meanwhile, were freed, diplomats said.

The station said it had received video footage from a group calling itself the Salafist Brigades of Abu Bakr Al-Sidiq accusing the Turkish and Iraqi hostages of being spies. A segment broadcast on the network showed four armed militants dressed in black standing behind two kneeling men.

Al-Jazeera identified the Iraqi as Anwar Wali but did not give the Turkish man's name. In Italy, Wali's family said the Italian Foreign Ministry had notified them that his death was confirmed.

Meanwhile, two Indonesian women reported kidnapped last week were freed and arrived at the embassy of the United Arab Emirates in Baghdad, a diplomat at the embassy said.

SADR CITY: Late Monday, U.S. warplanes attacked this sprawling Baghdad slum, and skirmishes were continuing between American troops and rebels in the area, a spokesman for the insurgents said. The U.S. military had no information on the reported fighting.

FALLUJAH: American warplanes unleashed strikes against suspected terrorist hideouts and weapons caches early Monday in the city 40 miles west of Baghdad. At least 11 people, including three women and four children, died in the attacks and 12 others were wounded, hospital officials said.

POLISH PULLOUT: Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski said he sees the end of 2005 as a possible date for ending the country's mission in Iraq, the first time the key U.S. ally has indicated when it might pull its soldiers out of the country.

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