US hostage 'escapes' in Iraq
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3678115.stm
An American hostage has been found by US forces in Iraq, the
military says.
Thomas Hamill was found south of Tikrit after he apparently escaped
from his captors, US Army spokesman Brig Gen Mark Kimmitt told
reporters.
Mr Hamill, a driver for a US oil firm, was said to be in "good
health" and "ready to get back to work".
He was one of several employees held since an attack on a convoy
west of Baghdad on 9 April. The bodies of four other hostages have
since been found.
It was not clear how Mr Hamill ended up near Tikrit, which is about
150 km (90 miles) north of where the convoy attack occurred.
US military units were patrolling a petroleum pipeline when Mr
Hamill approached and identified himself.
"Mr Hamill apparently escaped from a building," Mr Kimmitt
said.
"He has spoken to his family. He is now ready to get back to work,"
he said.
In the US, Mr Hamill's wife, Kellie, said she received a call
telling her that her husband had been found alive.
She said it was "the best wakeup call I've ever had," in remarks
quoted by the Associated Press.
Television
footage
Mr Hamill was one of several foreign nationals abducted in early
April as violence flared up in Iraq.
Mr Hamill, 43, went missing when the fuel convoy he was travelling
in was ambushed by Abu Ghraib prison west of Baghdad.
Two US soldiers and six other employees of American oil firm
Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR) also went missing after the
attack.
Following the ambush, Mr Hamill appeared in video footage aired on
Arabic TV, in which his captors threatened to kill him if the US
siege of Falluja was not lifted.
The bodies of four of the KBR employees were later found in a
shallow grave near the site of the attack.
The body of the soldier, Sgt Elmer Krause, was also found and
identified on 23 April . The fate of the remaining US soldier and
the two contractors is unknown.
Mr Hamill's freedom came as US marines began withdrawing from
Falluja, handing over to an Iraqi military force.