Iraq:  Iraqi Escapes Kidnappers

Iraqi Escapes Kidnappers, Runs to Safety of U.S. Troops

Posted on 05.24.2005 at 08:04AM 
Task Force Baghdad PAO

BAGHDAD -  An Iraqi hostage escaped from his captors and found his way to the protection of Coalition Forces May 19, 2005.
   The hostage was kidnapped the previous day by terrorists who, he said, were apparently motivated by profit or gruesome intent.
   “I asked the kidnappers what they were going to do with me,” the hostage, who wished to remain nameless, said through a translator.  “They said they have three choices: ask my family for money, shoot me or slit my throat.”
   The terrorists took the hostage to a house in the Abu Ghraib district and eventually left the hostage alone. After an hour without hearing a noise, the hostage successfully loosened the ropes tied to his hands and legs and looked for an escape.
   The entrance was locked from the outside and the windows were inaccessible, so the hostage found his way to the roof and jumped to a neighboring building.
   He eventually made his way to the ground where he saw Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, 10th Mountain Division. He approached the vehicles and told them his story.
   “He was really happy to see us,” said Sgt. Todd Stoner, a 2-14 Infantry Soldier from Grafton, N.H.  “Without an interpreter, he basically told me these guys kidnapped him. We gave him some food and water.”
   The Soldiers then searched the house where the hostage was held captive and discovered two RPK machineguns, one 9-millimeter pistol, six AK-47 rifles, one Russian hand grenade, an explosive detonator, four ski masks and a variety of medical supplies including heavy narcotics.
   Staff Sgt. Daryl Van Why, a 2-14 Infantry Soldier from Unadilla, N.Y., said the escaped hostage protected himself and helped secure the Iraqi community by coming to Coalition Forces.
   “Had he tried running and not coming to us, I believed he would be captured again,” he said, adding that there are now fewer weapons on the street and one less hideout for insurgents.
   The hostage said he was grateful for the Soldiers’ assistance.
   “I appreciate the Americans’ treatment,” he said.  “It was a big difference from the treatment from the terrorists.”

  

Iraqi Escapes Kidnappers, Runs to Safety of U.S. Troops
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Copyright © 2008 Kirk S. Ramsey
Last modified: March 04, 2011