TIKRIT, Iraq, Nov. 29 (Xinhuanet) -- Unknown gunmen has abducted a former army officer and relative of the toppled Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in Tikrit, some 170 km north of Baghdad.

   "Dhafir Hardan al-Hazzaa was abducted Monday night by armed men from his house in Tikrit," a source at the joint US and Iraqi coordination center in Tikrit told Xinhua on Tuesday.

   In a separate incident, six Iranian pilgrims and their Iraqi guide were kidnapped by gunmen on Monday night in the town of Balad, some 80 km north of Baghdad, the source said.

   The Iraqi driver was wounded when gunmen opened fire at their minibus and forced them to stop.

   Meanwhile, two fuel tankers were ablaze near Balad after two roadside bombs exploded when a convoy of Turkish trucks, escorted by the US troops, passed by, the source added. Enditem