Developments in Iraq on Wednesday

Armed Iraq insurgents threatened to kill a Filipino hostage if his country does not withdraw from Iraq, according to a video that aired Wednesday. The Philippines responded by ordering a halt to further deployment.

A militant group calling itself the Islamic Army in Iraq claimed responsibility for the March 31 killings of four American contractors whose bodies were mutilated in the restive city of Fallujah.

Iraq said Wednesday it was holding 29 foreign fighters in the maximum-security portion of Abu Ghraib prison, a much smaller figure than the thousands of local insurgents behind bars.

One U.S. soldier was killed and three others injured in a road accident early Wednesday, a U.S. military statement said.

A daylight gunbattle between Iraqi security forces and insurgents raged for hours in the streets of central Baghdad. Officials said four people were killed and 20 wounded.

Four explosions shook another neighborhood near the headquarters of the Iraqi president's political party, wounding six people, the Interior Ministry reported. The neighborhood hit by the explosions is also home to one of the president's residences. He was not there at the time.

-- The Associated Press