BAGHDAD (AFP) - At least six foreign workers were reported kidnapped in Iraq as a roadside bombing claimed the life of a US soldier and fires were raging near oil wells after a string of sabotage attacks.
The life of an Irish-born woman aid worker hung in the balance after her kidnappers threatened to hand her over to the group led by Iraq`s most wanted man Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, blamed for a string of hostage beheadings and bloody attacks.
Five Jordanians, most of them truck drivers, were reported kidnapped, while a US-Lebanese contractor was seized at gunpoint from an upscale district in Baghdad and Al-Qaeda linked militants posted a website video showing the beheading of a man they said was a senior Iraqi army officer.
Iraqis and US troops alike were keenly watching the US presidential race with expectations growing that George W. Bush has won another four years in the White House despite his controversial decision to invade Iraq in March 2003.
The country has descended into bloody chaos since the toppling of Saddam Hussein`s regime as rebels -- many loyal to Zarqawi -- resort to guerilla warfare, using kidnappings and bomb attacks to undermine the US-backed government and US-led military.
One US soldier was killed and another wounded when a roadside bomb hit an army patrol southeast of Baghdad, bringing to 1,117 the number of US military personnel killed in Iraq since the US-led invasion, according to a Pentagon tally.
At least nine people were also injured in another car bombing on the main road to Baghdad airport, while the US military launched more air strikes on the rebel-held city of Fallujah overnight.
In the latest hostage drama, a US-Lebanese man working for Iraq`s transport ministry was kidnapped overnight from his house in the smart Baghdad neighbourhood of Mansour.
"Masked gunmen burst into his house as he was entertaining two doctor friends. They made off with him alone," said a police official.
It is the third time kidnappers have snatched foreign civilians from their home in this area of the capital within the last six weeks, and it is the second such attack in just 48 hours.
Another five Jordanians, including four truck drivers, were also reported kidnapped in Iraq, while the Philippines confirmed that one of its nationals was taken along with a Nepalese and a US citizen and several Iraqis in Baghdad.
The abductors of British-Irish aid director Margaret Hassan issued a 48-hour deadline for British troops to leave Iraq or they would hand her over to Zarqawi`s followers -- the most ruthless band of kidnappers in the country.
Hassan`s employer CARE Australia urged the militants to free the 59-year-old Irish-born Iraqi citizen following the release of a new video showing her in a deeply distressed state as she pleaded for her life.
Another hardcore group linked to Al-Qaeda, the Army of Ansar al-Sunna, posted a video on its website showing the beheading of "a senior Iraqi army officer".
"Your mujahedeen brothers in Mosul managed to capture a senior officer in the Iraqi army, the apostate Major Hussein Shanun," it said in a statement, which was posted along with images showing the victim after he was decapitated with his head placed on his own back.
Japanese traveller Shosei Koda met with the same fate after Tokyo failed to save him from Islamist kidnappers in Iraq demanding a withdrawal of Japanese troops.
A flight carrying the backpacker`s remains arrived in Japan from Kuwait on Wednesday and his funeral will be held on Friday.
"We cannot find any words as we cannot bear hearing about the report of Shosei`s death," the family of the 24-year-old said in a statement.
Zarqawi`s Al-Qaeda Group of Jihad in the Land of Two Rivers (Iraq)," abducted Koba in Baghdad late last month. It released a video and photos of his death, which was carried out to the background of a song with the words: "I am a terrorist, I terrorize the enemies of (the Islamic) religion."
Senior government figures have also fallen foul of the insurgency, with Hussein Ali al-Fatal, an Iraqi oil ministry official, becoming the latest victim after unknown attackers gunned him down outside his home in Baghdad.
Desperate to quell the violence, US and Iraqi officials are building up for an anticipated all-out offensive on the restive cities of Fallujah and nearby Ramadi, believed to be the nerve centre of the rebellion.
US war planes unleased two overnight raids on Fallujah, west of Bagdhad, but it was not immediately clear if there were any casualties.
Thousands of residents have fled the Sunni Muslim bastion since the US military began a campaign of air strikes during the summer in the hunt for the Zarqawi and his followers who are believed to use the city as a base.
US ground troops have encircled Fallujah since mid-October, and Allawi issued an ultimatum to the city on Sunday to surrender insurgents holed up inside or face an all-out military assault.
11/03/2004 - 14:59 GMT - AFP