Kidnapped Bangladeshi driver home

DHAKA: A Bangladeshi truck driver was reunited with his family on Friday, nearly three weeks after militants in Iraq freed him.

Abdul Kashem was working with a Kuwaiti transport company when he and a Sri Lankan co-worker were abducted near Baghdad on Oct 28. He was freed on Dec 9 after 43 days of captivity by a group calling itself the Islamic Army of Iraq. The Sri Lankan was also freed. Families and friends hugged Kashem after he arrived at Dhaka’s Zia International Airport from Kuwait. “I’m glad to be back home ... back to my family,” Kashem told reporters at the airport. “I’m grateful to all those who have prayed and tried for my freedom.”

Kashem traveled to Kuwait through Jordan, where he was under the care of Bangladeshi diplomats. Dozens of foreigners have been taken hostage in Iraq this year, and more than 30 were killed by their captors. Many of the victims were beheaded.

“They (kidnappers) behaved well with me,” Kashem said.

Bangladesh opposed the US-led war in Iraq, and has rejected requests from Washington to send troops there, saying it would only respond to a request under the United Nations. ap

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