US helping Philippine efforts to free hostage in Iraq
The United States has been helping the Philippines to try to secure the release of a Filipino accountant kidnapped in Iraq, the US ambassador revealed.A US State Department counter-terrorism expert who used to work at the Manila embassy is now in Baghdad and is in contact with Filipino and Iraqi officials there, ambassador Francis Ricciardone said Thursday. “He’s talking with Iraqis. He’s talking with your officials in Baghdad everyday,” Ricciardone told reporters. “We are not regarding this as somebody else’s problem. It’s our problem when a victim is taken hostage somewhere in the world.”Full Story