BAGHDAD, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- Gunmen kidnapped some 100 people working for the Higher Education Ministry in Baghdad on Tuesday, the state-run television reported.

    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, the television said.

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

Gunmen kidnap 25 gov't employees in Baghdad 

    BAGHDAD, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- Gunmen in 20 sports utility vehicles stormed a government building in Baghdad and kidnapped up to 25 employees on Tuesday, an Interior Ministry source told Xinhua.

    "Gunmen wearing Iraqi police commando uniform in 20 SUVs stormed the Research Department of the Higher Education Ministry in the al-Nidhal Street in Karradah district, kidnapping up to 25 employees," the source said on condition of anonymity.

A US helicopter flies over the blast site in central Baghdad, capital of Iraq, Nov.13, 2006. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery >>>

Heavy smoke rises from the blast site in central Baghdad, capital of Iraq, Nov.13, 2006.(Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery >>>

Suicide bomber kills 20 in Iraq

    BEIJING, Nov. 14 -- A bomb has exploded on a minibus in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, killing at least twenty people and wounding about eighteen others.

    Witnesses said a suicide bomber blew himself up inside the bus in the mostly Shi'ite neighborhood of Shaab on Monday. Police say the minibus attack followed a separate car bombing outside the Iraqi Defense Ministry, which destroyed 13 cars and wounded one person. 

    Sunni insurgents have frequently targeted Shi'ite bus passengers in the ongoing tit-for-tat sectarian killings that are tearing at the fabric of Iraqi society.