PARIS, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- The French presidency released a statement on Sunday to confirm that French engineer Bernard Planche kidnapped on Dec. 5 in Iraq had been freed on Saturday.

    In the statement French President Jacques Chirac "thanked the coalition forces who made possible this liberation."

    French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy later confirmed that Bernard Planche is with embassy staff in Baghdad and should return to France shortly.

    "I have been informed that Bernard Planche was taken in early this afternoon by the embassy," Douste-Blazy said in a statement.

    "He should return to France shortly and the details of that will be released as soon as possible," he said.

    Planche, 52, was released Saturday near a checkpoint set up by U.S. and Iraqi security forces to the west of the Iraqi capital.

    French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin thanked the United States on Sunday for its help in securing the release of a French hostage kidnapped in Iraq.

    Villepin also congratulated the French diplomatic and intelligence services for working to win the engineer's freedom.

    The prime minister warned in his statement of "the extremely dangerous nature of any stay in Iraq" and again urged French nationals not to go there.

    Planche is the fourth French hostage to have survived kidnapping in Iraq since the U.S-led Iraqi war in March 2003. The other three are Christian Chesnot, Georges Malbrunot and Florence Aubenas.

    The French foreign ministry said there were about 90 nationals registered in Baghdad, mostly embassy staff, journalists and some aid workers. Enditem