Special
report:Tension escalates in
Iraq
BEIJING, Nov. 15 (Xinhuanet) -- Officials still don't have a clear
count of how many Iraqis were kidnapped on Tuesday by up to 80 gunmen disguised
as Iraqi National Police from a Baghdad research institute, but an Interior
Minstry official on Wednesday said most have been released, according to a CNN
report.
The official's statement was reinforced by a Al-Iraqiya station television
report that also said most of the hostages had been released. The official said
none of the hostages had been killed or tortured. Initial estimates were that
100 to 150 people were abducted, but that figure was reduced later.
Higher Education Minister Abed Dhiyab al-Ajili, who personally reported the
abduction to the Iraq Parliament shortly after it took place on Tuesday, has
closed the nation's universities until security measures can be improved.
"I have no choice but to stop the teaching in the universities in Baghdad,"
he said. "I am not ready to see more professors get killed."
The hostages included research employees, directors, managers, cleaning
workers and citizens visiting the institute, al-Ajili said.
The Iraqi interior minister ordered the arrests and interrogations of
several high-ranking police officers over their handling of security in the
area.
One witness told a Reuters representative he saw the gunmen check identity
cards and pick out Sunni employees, including a man "who was just delivering
tea."
"At the same time, I saw two police patrols watching, doing nothing,"
Reuters quoted the man as saying.
Al-Ajili said there are about 20 guards at the institute with a handful of
weapons, but not enough to resist a large number of heavily armed gunmen.
Al-Ajili said the kidnappers surrounded the four-story building along
Nidhal Street with at least 20 vehicles, taking guards, employees and civilians
captive.
According to al-Ajili, the gunmen separated the men from the women and
locked the women in a room while they loaded the men into vehicles and escaped.
Ashraf Qazi, the U.N. secretary-general's special representative in Iraq,
said the kidnapping was "a nefarious crime that could dangerously and
negatively" affect "progress and development in Iraq, a country long known for
its literary and scientific tradition."
Qazi urged Iraqi officials "to immediately and inexorably pursue those
responsible, free the abductees and ensure the sanctity of higher education."
(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.
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Smoke rises from the site of an
explosion in central Baghdad. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)
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