FALLUJAH, Iraq – U.S. Marines (search) on Sunday found the mutilated body of what they believe was a Western woman during a sweep of a street in central Fallujah.
The body was lying in the street covered with a blood-soaked cloth. Marines fear the body may have been boobytrapped and called in dogs to sniff for explosives.
Although the body had not been examined carefully, a Marine officer said on condition of anonymity he was "80 percent sure" the victim was a Western woman.
Two Western women are known to have been kidnapped in Iraq.
Margaret Hassan (search), 59, director of CARE international in Iraq, was abducted Oct. 19. Teresa Borcz Khalifa, 54, a Polish-born longtime resident of Iraq, was seized last month.
Kidnappers of both demanded, among other things, that foreign troops leave Iraq.
In Warsaw, Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman Aleksander Checko said diplomats knew of the report and were seeking more information.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox