Mutilated body of 'Western woman' found

The mutilated body of a Western woman was found by American forces in Fallujah yesterday, lying on the street covered with a blood-soaked cloth, writes Kim Sengupta.

The mutilated body of a Western woman was found by American forces in Fallujah yesterday, lying on the street covered with a blood-soaked cloth.

The body could not be examined immediately because of fears that it might conceal some sort of booby-trap, but a US Marines officer said he was "80 per cent certain" that the victim was Western.

Margaret Hassan, the 59-year-old British-Iraqi director of Care International, and Teresa Borcz Khalifa, a 54-year-old Polish-born woman, are the only two known Western women hostages in Iraq.

However, in previous instances, bodies thought to be those of Western women turned out to be those of Iraqis.