CAIRO, July 5 (Xinhuanet) -- Iraq's al-Qaida wing claimed on Tuesday that it had kidnapped the Egyptian ambassador to Iraq.

    "The Egyptian ambassador has been kidnapped by our mujahideen and he is now under the control of our mujahideen," the al-Qaida Organization for Holy War in Iraq said in a website statement.

   Ihab el-Sharif was kidnapped by a group of gunmen last Saturday near the Egyptian consulate in al-Rabie Street in western Baghdad. Enditem