April 11 —
Two members of the relief agency Doctors Without Borders, missing
in the chaos of Baghdad since April 2, turned up safe Friday, the
organization said.
The two volunteers, head of mission Francois Calas, 44, of
France, and Ibrahim Younis, a 31-year-old logistician from the
Sudan, were part of a six-member team that had been working at
al-Kindi hospital in northeast Baghdad.
Their four colleagues had returned from a shift at the hospital
and found that the men were missing from their quarters. The group
suspended operations in the country.
Agency officials said shortly after the disappearances that they
believed that Iraqi authorities were holding the men, but authority
crumbled when U.S.-led forces conquered the city this week.
Kris Torgeson, a U.S. spokeswoman for the group, said she had no
details about the circumstances surrounding the men's capture and
eventual release, but that they were in good condition,
"Obviously, the whole organization is extremely pleased," she
said.
Arjan Erkel, another Doctors Without Borders volunteer, was
kidnapped in the North Caucasus on Aug. 12. The group, known
internationally as Medecins Sans Frontieres, said it has received no
news about his whereabouts.
photo credit
and caption:
An Iraqi boy offers some water
to a United States Marine of Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th
Marines, while he was out on patrol Friday, April 11, 2003 in
a neighborhood near central Baghdad. Marines patrolled through
streets in search of any remnants of resistance as well as
intelligence on weapons caches or hiding places of enemy
forces. (AP Photo/Julie
Jacobson)
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