Body of western woman found in Fallujah
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-11-14 23:53

U.S. Marines on Sunday found the mutilated body of what they believe was a Western woman during a sweep of a street in central Fallujah.

A video grab shows Margaret Hassan, a British-born woman working as the head of Care International in Iraq who was kidnapped in Baghdad early October 19, 2004, the charity said. Kidnappers seized the British-Iraqi head of an international charity group in Baghdad. [Reuters/file]

The body was lying in the street covered with a blood-soaked cloth. Marines fear the body may have been boobytrapped and called in dogs to sniff for explosives.

Although the body had not been examined carefully, a Marine officer said on condition of anonymity he was "80 percent sure" the victim was a Western woman.

Two Western women are known to have been kidnapped in Iraq.

Margaret Hassan, 59, director of CARE international in Iraq, was abducted Oct. 19. Teresa Borcz Khalifa, 54, a Polish-born longtime resident of Iraq, was seized last month.

Kidnappers of both demanded, among other things, that foreign troops leave Iraq.

In Warsaw, Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman Aleksander Checko said diplomats knew of the report and were seeking more information.

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