Hostage's Saudi firm 'quits Iraq'
 |  Gharabawi was abducted while delivering petrol to U.S. forces in Iraq. |
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 The Philippines moves to reduce its troops in Iraq.
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BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The Saudi employer of an Egyptian hostage in Iraq says it has met the demands of kidnappers by pulling out of the country, according to an Arabic-language TV channel.
The abductors of Muhammad al-Gharabawi Thursday gave the Faisal al-Nahait Transport Company 48 hours to prove it had left Iraq, Al-Jazeera reported.
On Friday, in a statement sent to the channel, the company said it no longer had vehicles in Iraq.
"All our vehicles were pulled out of Iraq on Wednesday, July 14, to ensure the safety of the hostage," the statement, reproted by Reuters, said.
The hostage-takers had sent a written statement to the network threatening to kill Muhammad al-Gharabawi if the company -- Faisal al-Nahait Transport Company -- did not meet the deadline.
Thursday's death threat was the second against al-Gharabawi.
On July 13, they said they would behead al-Gharabawi, whom it had seized a week earlier, unless the Saudi company pulled out of Iraq within 72 hours.
"We will withdraw our operation there to save the life of the hostage, our driver," owner Faisal al-Nahait told Al-Jazeera Wednesday. He said the driver has worked for the company for eight years.
Al-Gharabawi, in his 50s, was abducted while delivering petroleum products to U.S. forces in Iraq by a group claiming to be the "legitimate Iraqi resistance," Al-Jazeera reported last week.
Thursday's statement from the abductors also declared anyone who collaborated with the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq "won't be treated kindly, for they are seen as traitors working with the infidel occupiers."
Meanwhile Friday, the Philippines was recalling the chief of its humanitarian force and 10 other personnel in Iraq as part of efforts to comply with the demands of kidnappers.
The hostage-takers had originally threatened to behead Filipino Angelo de la Cruz if Manila did not pull out its 51-member humanitarian force from Iraq by July 20. Full story
And in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, police said a beheaded body pulled Thursday from the Tigris River may be one of two Bulgarian truck drivers held hostage by militants.
A U.S. military spokesman said the body was turned over to soldiers from the 1st Infantry Division and DNA tests were being conducted to determine the identity of the victim. (Full story)
The body -- decapitated and dressed in an orange jumpsuit -- had been retrieved from the Tigris River northwest of Bayji, about 30 miles north of Tikrit, the military spokesman said.
Captives have appeared wearing orange jumpsuits in videotapes that militants released to the media.
Earlier this week, Al-Jazeera reported that it had received a videotape showing one of the two truckers had been beheaded.
In Sofia, Bulgaria, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said Bulgarian officials have not determined the fate of the hostages.
CNNArabic.com editor Caroline Faraj and CNN's Jane Arraf contributed to this report.
