Miraculous Reappearance Of Polish Hostage
A Polish woman abducted from her apartment in Baghdad reappeared on Saturday in Poland after being suddenly released. While she said she was treated well, she refused to give details of how she was freed.
Teresa Borcz Khalifa, 54, kidnapped Oct. 28 at her Baghdad home, arrived in Warsaw on Friday, Polish Prime Minister Marek Belka said as he introduced the former hostage at a news conference.
More than 170 foreigners have been kidnapped in Iraq this year, eight of them women. At least 34 have been killed.
In November, President Aleksander Kwasniewski said he asked President Bush for help in freeing Borcz Khalifa. Polish officials would not say what kind of help Kwasniewski had in mind, but U.S. troops freed another Polish hostage and three Italians in a raid in June.
On Saturday, Belka refused to say when, where or how Borcz Khalifa was freed but said that "officials of different services took part in her release in cooperation with institutions from many countries." Borcz Khalifa also would give no details. Borcz Khalifa, who is married to an Iraqi, has lived in Iraq since the 1970s.