The welfare of a second Bulgarian hostage being held in Iraq remains unknown, as the deadline of a threat to kill him has passed.
Insurgents beheaded his colleague yesterday and threatened to do the same to him tonight, unless Iraqi prisoners were freed.
The Foreign Ministry in Sofia last night confirmed that a Bulgarian hostage had been killed by his captors.
The dead man is believed to be Georgi Lazov, aged 30. 32-year-old Ivailo Kepov was abducted at the same time on 27 June not far from Mosul.
The television station Al Jazeera said it would not be showing a video tape of the execution sent to it by a militant group led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Earlier, Bulgaria said it was not withdrawing its troops despite the execution.
Philippine hostage said to be 'safe'
Filipino hostage Angelo de la Cruz is reported to be 'safe and not in danger' after the Philippines government indicated that it had begun to withdraw its troops from Iraq.
The Philippines Foreign Secretary, Delia Albert, suggested eight members of the 51-strong Filipino contingent had left the country ahead of a 20 July deadline set by the captors.
The 46-year-old driver was abducted last week, and two deadlines for the kidnappers' demand that his country withdraw its small contingent of troops from Iraq have passed.
US and Australian sources have warned the Philippine government that complying with the demand could put the country in greater danger of terror kidnappings in the future.
