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    BEIJING, Nov. 15 (Xinhuanet) -- Most of the hostages seized at a Higher Education Ministry building on Tuesday were freed in operations by security forces in Baghdad, according to Iraqi state television Iraqiya.

    Gunmen in Iraqi police uniforms had snatched male staff and visitors from the ministry building in a daylight raid which was among the most serious mass kidnapping in more than three years of violence since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

    Officials initially said 100 or more men had been seized, but a government spokesman later said 20 had been released within hours and the kidnappers were holding around 50 hostages.

    Women were left behind after having their mobile phones confiscated.

    Iraqiya quoted an Interior Ministry spokesman as saying operations were continuing in the early hours of Wednesday to free the remaining hostages.

    A spokesman for the Interior Ministry, which oversees the police, announced on state television several hours afterward that orders had been issued for the arrest of several police commanders who were responsible for the area where the kidnappings took place.

    Dr. Alaa Makki, a lawmaker with the Iraqi Ministry of Higher Education, 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.

    Al Furat, a TV station controlled by a major Shi'ite political group, said 25 hostages were still missing.

    (Agencies)

Gunmen abduct up to 150 Iraqi government staff in Baghdad

    BEIJING, Nov. 14 (Xinhuanet) -- Gunmen wearing Iraqi police commando uniforms stepped up pressure on the country's educational system Tuesday by kidnapping up to 150 staff members from a government research institute in downtown Baghdad, according to the head of the parliamentary education committee.

    Alaa Makki interrupted a parliamentary session to announce between 100 and 150 people, both Shiites and Sunnis, had been abducted in the 9:30 a.m. raid. He urged the prime minister and ministers of interior and defense to rapidly respond to what he called a "national catastrophe." Makki added that he will close universities until security improves.

Smoke rises from the site of an explosion in central Baghdad. (Xinhua/AFP Photo) Photo Gallery >>>

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