Former US hostage Thomas Hamill, who escaped from captivity at the weekend, has left Iraq and is on his way to a military hospital in Germany for medical check-ups.
Mr Hamill, a dairy farmer from Mississippi who came to Iraq to work as a truck driver and make money to pay off debts, was kidnapped by insurgents west of Baghdad three weeks ago after his convoy came under attack.
Soon after his abduction, Mr Hamill was filmed sitting in the back of a car with his masked and heavily armed abductors who later threatened to kill or maim him unless US forces pulled back from the besieged city of Falluja.
But yesterday he managed to escape, fleeing from a house where he was being held about 100 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad. He ran into the arms of a US patrol, then took them back to the house where they arrested two men, US officials said.
"Mr Hamill, as part of the repatriation process, has departed from Iraq," the US official said, adding that he was headed for Landstuhl military hospital near Frankfurt, Germany.
Mr Hamill (43), was said to be in fine condition, apart from an infected bullet wound in one arm.
He worked for Kellogg, Brown & Root, a subsidiary of US firm Halliburton, one of the biggest contractors in Iraq. The firm greeted his freedom with "joy and relief".