Headless body found in Iraq river

The corpse may belong to an executed Bulgarian hostage

A headless body in an orange jumpsuit has been found in the Tigris River in Baghdad, the US military has said.

A military spokeswoman said Iraqi police had discovered the body and handed it over to the Americans.

Unconfirmed reports say it might be that of a Bulgarian driver who was killed by militants earlier this week.

A militant group affiliated with Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has threatened to kill a second Bulgarian hostage.

They are demanding the US release Iraqi detainees.

Bulgarian Foreign Minister Solomon Passy said every effort was being made to identify the body.

His deputy, Gergana Grancharova, said fingerprints from the body were being sent to Bulgaria.

Videotapes of foreign hostages in Iraq have often shown them wearing orange jumpsuits of the kind worn by detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

Anxious wait

Meanwhile, a Filipino being held captive in Iraq has been shown in a videotape, broadcast on Arabic TV station al-Jazeera, apparently to reassure his family that he is alive.

The voice of the hostage, Angelo de la Cruz, was not heard and there was no proof of the date of the video.

The group holding the man hostage have threatened to kill him unless Philippine troops leave Iraq by the end of July - an extension from an earlier deadline of 20 July.

Despite pressure from the US and Australia not to give in to the hostage-takers, the Philippine government has said it will withdraw its small contingent of troops.

HOSTAGES KILLED 13 July: Bulgarian hostage beheaded 29 June: Keith Maupin, 20, US soldier is reportedly killed (not confirmed) 22 June: Kim Sun-il, 33, South Korean translator beheaded 11 May: Nick Berg, 26, US businessman beheaded 14 April: Fabrizio Quattrocchi, 36, Italian security guard shot dead

Al-Jazeera has also received a video recording of the Bulgarian hostage's death, but it decided not to broadcast the graphic sections of the tape.

The video showed the Bulgarians wearing orange jumpsuits, kneeling in front of three masked men dressed in black.

Reports suggest the Bulgarian man killed was Georgi Lazov, 30, who was seized in northern Iraq along with his colleague, Ivaylo Kepov, 32.

The two men had been delivering cars from Bulgaria to the Iraqi city of Mosul.

The execution was allegedly carried out by members of the al-Tahid and Jihad Group, headed by a suspected al-Qaeda leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

The group has also claimed responsibility for the deaths of two other hostages - American Nick Berg and South Korean Kim Sun-il

The Iraqi Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi, has announced plans for a new security and intelligence agency which he said would "annihilate those terrorist groups".