French hostage released in Iraq

French engineer Bernard Blanch was released in Iraq, one month after his kidnapping.

A source in the Iraqi ministry of the Interior said that the kidnappers were surprised by a joint inspection point composed of American and Iraqi forces in west Baghdad, and the French engineer was with them. They left him on the road and escaped.

In Paris, the French Presidency confirmed the release of Blanch. The French President Jacques Chirac thanked, in a statement, the coalition forces.