Iraq: French Hostage Freed

A French engineer, Bernard Planche, who has been held hostage in Iraq for over a month, has been freed. French authorities have confirmed this information. French president Jacques Chirac has officially thanked the Iraq coalition forces for their cooperation in the release of the French hostage.

According to the Iraqi police, the gunmen released the Frenchman near Abu Ghraib jail.

Bernard Planche, a water treatment engineer working for non-governmental organization AACCESS, was abducted in Baghdad on December 5, 2005, while on his way to work at the Risafa Water Plant. At the end of December Arab TV channel "Al-Arabiya" broadcast the gunmen's ultimatum to the French government where they demanded that all French citizens be recalled from the country. Otherwise the terrorists threatened to kill the hostage.