BAGHDAD, Nov.
14 (Xinhua) -- At least 15 hostages were released late Tuesday from an
earlier kidnapping in the Higher Education Ministry in Baghdad, local security
and education sources said.
A security source told media that 12 more hostages
were found released in different parts of Karradah district in the Iraqi
capital, after three other hostages were freed earlier by their kidnappers.
Dr Alaa Makki, a lawmaker in the Iraqi Ministry of
Higher Education, meanwhile, confirmed the release of a number of the ministry's
staffers.
The kidnapped belonged to the Sunni and Shiite sects,
"so the abduction meant that all Iraqi people are targeted", he added.
According to the released, there were only some 40
people had been held hostages by unidentified gunmen.
However, the state-run television reported earlier in the day that gunmen wearing Iraqi police commando uniform stormed the ministry's Research Directorate building in the Nidhal Street in Karradah district, kidnapping more than 100 male employees.
