by Michel Sailhan
BAGHDAD, July 19 (AFP) - A truck bomb exploded near a Baghdad police station on Monday, killing nine people, as the Philippines became the fifth country to withdraw its troops from the US-led forces in Iraq earlier than schedule.
Manila pulled out its troops -- despite sharp rebukes from Iraq and the United States -- to save the life of a 46-year-old Filipino hostage as the release was announced of an Egyptian truck driver taken hostage earlier this month.
It remained to be seen whether the Philippines' gamble will pay off as there was no news on the fate of the Filipino father of eight, Angelo de la Cruz.
Mohammed Mamduh Kotb, counsellor at Egypt's interests section in Baghdad, said Sayed Mohammed Sayed al-Garbawi was safe and well, although he refused to say whether a ransom had been paid to secure the trucker's freedom.
"He is with me and we are heading to the embassy now," Kotb told AFP.
The hostage drama unfolded as a senior defence ministry official was gunned down near his home in the latest high-profile murder.
Adding to the mayhem, a British airman died and two were wounded when their helicopter crashed in an apparent accident in the south of the country.
As the violence spiralled three weeks after Iraq regained its sovereignty, Prime Minister Iyad Allawi flew to Jordan at the start of a two-week Middle East tour, his first foreign trip since taking office.
The Egyptian truck driver's employer Saudi al-Jari transport company, which is licensed to ferry oil shipments to Iraq through the Arar border crossing, said Friday it would end all activities in Iraq as demanded by the kidnappers.
Initially the militant group that held Garbawi had demanded a one million dollar ransom but his employer made a counter-offer of 15,000 dollars.
Manila also caved in to blackmail to save De la Cruz, a driver like Garbawi but who was threatened with beheading if his country failed to withdraw its 51 soldiers and police out of Iraq one month earlier than scheduled.
The Philippines is the fifth country to withdraw its troops from the US-led forces in Iraq ahead of schedule, following Spain, the Dominican Republic, Honduras and Nicaragua.
In addition, there was no fresh information on a Bulgarian truck driver also caught up in a hostage crisis that has engulfed Iraq since April as militants opposed to the new government and hoping to derail the US-led reconstruction efforts pick off dozens of foreigners to use as political pawns.
Some have been killed -- mostly by decapitation -- some released and others are still missing.
Violence continued to target other elements of the new administration, namely police, civil servants and politicians, who have borne the brunt of the 15-month insurgency that burgeoned during the US-led occupation.
A suspected suicide truck bomb exploded outside a police station in Baghdad's southern Saydia neighbourhood, killing nine people and wounding 60.
Scores of police cars and vans, the proud symbol of Iraq's fledgling security forces, lay in ruins, some ripped apart, others badly dented and most with their windscreens smashed.
"A truck, with someone behind the wheel, sped into the parking lot and exploded," said policeman Haitham Salmane.
Just 10 minutes after the bombing, insurgents fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a fire station near the heavily fortified compound that houses much of the US-led foreign presence in Baghdad, wounding one person.
In the same neighbourhood late Monday, Issam Jassem Kadhem, a director general in the defence ministry, was killed in a hail of bullets fired by unknown assailants, spokesman Radhi Badr said.
Allawi has insisted that security is improving with more police checkpoints on the streets and numerous successful raids in recent days that have netted hundreds of criminals and weapons stockpiles.
But attacks targeting Iraq's new security forces as well as ministry officials continue to grab headlines and cast doubt in the public's mind about the ability of their government to stem the bloodshed.
For the next fortnight, however, the prime minister's attention will be focused on mending fences with other countries in the region during a Middle East tour.
On Allawi's first leg in Jordan he met King Abdullah II, but he also is due to visit a number of other countries including Egypt, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Syria and Saudi Arabia.
As Iraq struggles to revamp its image on the international stage, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari announced the appointment of 43 ambassadors.
In further unrest, the body of a police officer kidnapped at the weekend was found west of the rebel Iraqi stronghold of Ramadi, police said.
Meanwhile, the British military said one of its helicopters crashed in what was thought to be an accident in Basra, 500 kilometres (300 miles) south of Basra, killing one airman and injuring two others.
Britain's Defence Minister Geoff Hoon said it was unlikely that enemy fire caused the Puma helicopter to crash on a miliary airstrip in the city.