US hostage in Iraq killed after torture - police

BAGHDAD, Mar 11 (Reuters) American hostage Tom Fox has been killed and his body, showing signs of torture, left at a garbage dump in Baghdad, police said today.

One of the policemen who found the body said the 54-year-old peace activist, wearing a grey tracksuit, appeared to have beaten by electric cables before his death. He had a single gunshot wound to the head and his hands were tied behind him.

Fox, who had been in Iraq to campaign against the US occupation and to work for the the release of Iraqis held by US forces, was taken hostage with three colleagues in November by a group calling itself the ''Swords of Truth''.

The group had threatened to kill the four, members of the Chicago-based Christian Peacemaker Teams, unless US forces and the Iraqi authorities freed all prisoners in their custody.

US embassy spokeswoman Elizabeth Colton said Fox's body was on its way back to the United States. She had no comment on the nature of his death.

A member of the police patrol which found Fox's body told Reuters it had been found on a garbage dump beside a railway line in the capital's western Mansour district on Thursday.

The policeman, who declined to be identified, said local people had covered the body with pieces of cardboard after reporting the discovery to police.

''When we pulled back the cardboard we immediately saw it was a foreigner and called headquarters,'' he said.

Fox, a father of two, had expressed concern in an article written the day before his abduction about the dehumanisation of Iraqis amid a raging insurgency and US responses that he said often claimed the lives of innocents.

US State Department spokesman Noel Clay said in Washington the FBI had formally identified Fox's body. More forensic examinations would be conducted in the United States.

''The family has been notified and our heartfelt condolences go out to the family,'' he said.

Fears about Fox's fate were raised earlier this week when Arabic television station Al Jazeera aired a video dated Feb. 28 showing only fellow activists Briton Norman Kember and Canadians James Loney and Harmeet Sooden. There was no word today on the fate of the three, who looked well in the video and did not appear distressed.

''We renew our plea for the safe release of Harmeet Sooden, Jim Loney and Norman Kember,'' Christian Peacemaker Teams said in a statement.

In the video the activists called on Gulf Arab leaders and their own governments to help free them. It was the first video since the hostage-takers said in January US forces had one last chance to free Iraqi prisoners or the men would be killed.

Colton said the embassy was still working to free American journalist Jill Carroll, kidnapped in Baghdad on January. 7, but had no new information on her fate. Her kidnappers had threatened to kill her by February. 26 unless US forces released women detainees.

''We are working around the clock with the Iraqi authorities and foreign missions to win the release of all the hostages,'' Colton said. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the killing of Fox raised concern about the other captives.

More than 200 foreigners and thousands of Iraqis have been kidnapped since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. Fifty-five foreign hostages are now known to have been killed by their captors. Two Germans and two Kenyans are among those still being held.

Baghdad residents interviewed by Reuters expressed dismay at Fox's killing: ''We reject such a criminal act. There is no acceptable justification for killing that innocent man. Islam rejects such a shameful crime,'' Abu Hasanen said.

In a posting on the Christian Peacemakers' Team Web site entitled ''Fight or Flight'' written before his abduction, Fox reflected on the dangers of working in Iraq and in particular about the threat of kidnapping. He resolved ''to stand firm'' and not give into fear.

''Does that mean I walk into a raging battle to confront the soldiers? Does that mean I walk the streets of Baghdad with a sign saying 'American for the Taking'? No to both counts.

''But if Jesus and Gandhi are right, then I am asked to risk my life, and if I lose it to be as forgiving as they were when murdered by the forces of Satan.''

REUTERS