Iraqi Forces Rescue Australian Hostage on a Bloody Day

BAGHDAD, Iraq, June 15 - Iraqi troops raiding a house in Baghdad rescued a 64-year-old Australian hostage, Douglas Wood, from nearly seven weeks of insurgent captivity today, and an Australian official said he was 'resting comfortably' and 'as well as you could expect him to be' in an American military hospital here.

The raid, which also freed an Iraqi hostage, was a rare case of military action successfully ending one of the scores of hostage-takings that have been a major insurgent tactic in the past 18 months.

But the release of the two hostages was accompanied by another day of insurgent violence that left at least 27 other Iraqi soldiers and policemen dead from two suicide bomb attacks. The American military command also said that two marines were killed by roadside bombs on Tuesday during what were described as combat operations near the towns of Falluja and Rutba in western Iraq. Another statement said two Bulgarian soldiers died Tuesday night near the southern city of Diwaniya when their Russian-made armored personnel carrier slid into a canal."